BE PHILOSOPHY 
OF RHETORIC 



CAMPBELL 



CONDENSED BY 
GREiNVILLE KLE1SER 




Copyright K?_ 






COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



THE 
PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

THE PHILOSOPHY 
OF RHETORIC 



BY 
GEORGE CAMPBELL. D.D. 



CONDENSED BY 
GRENVILLE KLEISER 



For the Exclusive Use of Grenville Kleiser's 
Mail Course Students 



FUNK &f WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 
1911 






Copyright, 1911, by 

GRENVILLE KLEISER 

Printed in the United States of America 



©CLA30 31U7 



TO THE STUDENT 



The essays of George Campbell, published 
under the title of "The Philosophy of Rhet- 
oric/' have long been regarded as among the 
most valuable contributions to this subject. 
His dictum that "Whatever is faulty in any 
degree it were better to avoid/' is quite as 
applicable now as it was in his own day. 
These essays, which I have condensed to meet 
the practical requirements of busy men inter- 
ested in the study of correct English, are 
marked throughout by accuracy, modesty, and 
clearness. They will repay most careful pe- 
rusal. 

Grenville Kleiser. 



»i 



CONTENTS 



^ PAGE 

r Chapter I 

The Law of Language ..... 3 
» Chapter II 

Canons of Criticism 13 

Chapter III 

Of Grammatical Purity .... 35 
Chapter IV 

Of the Qualities of Style Strictly 

Rhetorical 67 

Chapter V 

Of Perspicuity 73 

Chapter VI 

Why Is It That Nonsense So Often 
Escapes Being Detected, Both by 
the Writer and by the Reader? . 105 
Chapter VII 

The Extensive Use of Perspicuity . 117 
Chapter VIII 

May There Not be an Excess of 

Perspicuity? 125 

Chapter IX 

Of Vivacity as Depending on the 

Choice of Words 129 

Chapter X 

Of Vivacity as Depending on the 
Number of the Words . . . 149 
Chapter XI 

Of Vivacity as Depending on the Ar- 
rangement of Words .... 159 

vii 



CHAPTER I 
THE LAW OF LANGUAGE 



CHAPTER I 
THE LAW OF LANGUAGE 

Language is a species of fashion, estab- 
j lished by consent of the people of a 
* particular country. Grammar gives 
not law to language, but from speech derives 
its authority and value. The grammar of 
any language is no other than a collection of 
general observations methodically arranged, 
and comprizing all the modes previously and 
independently established, by which the sig- 
nifications, derivations, and combinations of 
words in that language are sustained. Every 
single anomaly stands on the same basis ; cus- 
tom has prescribed for it a particular rule. 
We, therefore, rest in these as fixt principles, 
that use, or the custom of speaking, L is the 
sole original standard of conversation as far 
as regards the expression, and the custom of 
writing is the sole standard of style ; that the 
latter comprehends the former, and something 
more; that to the tribunal of use, as to the 
supreme authority, and consequently, in every 
grammatical controversy, the last resort, we are 
entitled to appeal from the laws and the deci- 
sions of grammarians ; and that this order of 
subordination ought never, on any account, to 
be reversed. 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 



REPUTABLE USE 

This is sometimes called general use, yet the 
generality of people speak and write very 
badly. The use here spoken of implies not 
only currency but vogue ; it is properly repu- 
table custom. Good use in language has the 
approbation of those who have not attained 
it. In the lower walks of life people hear 
words whose meaning they do not know ; they 
pick them up, use, and misapply them. They 
are not themselves altogether unconscious of 
this defect. It often arises from an admira- 
tion of the manner of their superiors, and 
from an ill-judged imitation of their way of 
speaking, that the greatest errors of the il- 
literate, in respect of conversation, proceed. 
And were they sensible how widely different 
their use and application of such words is 
from that of those whom they affect to imi- 
tate, they would renounce their own immedi- 
ately. In such as are within their reach they 
use such words and idioms which are denomi- 
nated vulgarisms, whose use is not reputable. 
Many who have contracted a habit of employ- 
ing such idioms do not approve them; and 
tho, through negligence, they frequently fall 
into them in conversation, they carefully avoid 
them in writing, or even in a solemn speech 
on any important occasion. 

From the practise of those who are conver- 
sant in any art, elegant or mechanical, we take 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the sense of the terms and phrases belonging 
to that art ; in like manner, from men of edu- 
cation we judge of the general use of the lan- 
guage. The conversation of men of rank and 
eminence regulates pronunciation; authors of 
reputation are our standard for all that con- 
cerns the construction and application of 
words. 

I name them authors of reputation, rather 
than good authors, for two reasons : first, be- 
cause it is more strictly conformable to the 
truth of the case. It is solely the esteem of the 
public, and not their intrinsic merit (tho 
these two go generally together) which raises 
them to this distinction, and stamps a value 
on their language. Secondly, this character 
is more definitive than the other, and there- 
fore more extensively intelligible. Between 
two or more authors different readers will 
differ exceedingly as to the preference in point 
of merit, who agree perfectly as to the re- 
spective places they hold in the favor of the 
public. You may find persons of a taste so 
particular as to prefer some inferior writer to 
Milton, but you will hardly find a person that 
will dispute the superiority of the latter in the 
matter of fame. I need scarcely add, that 
when I speak of reputation, I mean not only 
in regard to knowledge, but in regard to the 
talent of communicating knowledge. 

We have an abundance of writers in all the 
various kinds of composition to determine us 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

in those modes of speech which are authorized 
and reputable. 

NATIONAL USE 

National use stands opposed to provincial 
and foreign. In every province peculiarities 
of dialect affect the pronunciation, accent, in- 
flection, and combination of words, whereby 
their idiom is distinguished from that of the 
nation and all other provinces. These idioms 
are current among the middle and lower ranks. 
But still this use is bounded by the province, 
county, or district which gives name to the 
dialect, and beyond which its peculiarities are 
sometimes unintelligible, and always ridicu- 
lous. 

For example, in some parts of Wales the 
common people say goot for good ; in the south 
of Scotland they say gude, and in the north 
gueed. Whenever one of these pronunciations 
prevails, you will never hear from a native 
either of the other two; but the word good 
is to be heard everywhere from natives as well 
as strangers. The provincials may not under- 
stand one another, but they all understand 
one who speaks properly. 

What has been now said of provincial dia- 
lects may, with very little variation, be ap- 
plied to professional dialects, or the cant 
which is sometimes observed to prevail among 
those of the same profession or way of life. 
The currency of the latter can not be so ex- 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

actly circumscribed as that of the former, 
whose distinction is purely local; but their 
use is not on that account either more exten- 
sive or reputable. Let the following serve as 
instances of this kind. Advice, in the com- 
mercial idiom, means information or intelli- 
gence; nervous, in open defiance of analogy, 
does in the medical cant, as Johnson expresses 
it, denote having weak nerves ; and the word 
turtle, tho preoccupied time immemorial by a 
species of dove, is, as we learn from the same 
authority, employed by sailors and gluttons to 
signify a tortoise. 

That national use might be opposed to for- 
eign scarcely needs illustration, for the intro- 
duction of extraneous words and idioms from 
other languages and foreign nations is a great- 
er transgression than the adoption into pure 
English of provincial terms and cant phrases. 
This is the error of the learned, that of the 
vulgar. As the introduction of foreign words 
and idioms is the result of learned affectation, 
they deserve less indulgence than native 
idioms of the vulgar, which have the merit of 
originality, and, for the most part, great pith 
of meaning. 

PRESENT USE 

Good and national use being different in 
different periods in the same country, there 
are certain boundaries within which we must 
search for precedents for the use of our Ian- 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

guage. The authority of Hooker and Raleigh 
will not now be admitted in support of a term 
not found in any good writer of a later date. 

In truth, the boundary must not be fixt at 
the same distance in every subject. Poetry 
has ever been allowed a wider range than 
prose; and it is but just that, by an indul- 
gence of this kind, some compensation should 
be made for the peculiar restraints it is laid 
under by the measure. Nor is this only a 
matter of convenience to the poet, it is also a 
matter of gratification to the reader. Diver- 
sity in the style relieves the ear, and prevents 
its being wearied by too frequent recurrence 
of the rimes, or sameness of the meter. But 
still there are limits to this diversity. The 
authority of Milton and of Waller on this sub- 
ject remains as yet unquestioned. I should 
not think it prudent often to introduce words 
or phrases of which no example could be pro- 
duced since the days of Spenser and of 
Shakespeare. 

And even in prose, the bounds are not the 
same for every kind of composition. In mat- 
ters of science the author is not confined with- 
in so narrow a circle. In composing history, 
romance, travels, moral essays, familiar essays, 
and the like, those words are to be considered 
obsolete which have been disused by good au- 
thors for a longer period than the age of man 
extends to, for our style must be regulated to 
present use. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

This remark affects also declensions, com- 
bination and construction of words. Either 
the present use is the standard of the lan- 
guage, or the language admits of no standard 
whatever. Critics are here not always judges, 
Their means produce sometimes a contrary ef- 
fect. One critic may place you in the age of 
Elizabeth, another in the present; a third in 
the time of Chaucer. And with regard to 
etymology, about which grammarians make so 
much useless bustle, if every one has a priv- 
ilege of altering words, according to his own 
opinion of their origin, the opinions of the 
learned being on this subject so various, noth- 
ing but a general chaos can ensue. 

Present use is here mentioned in respect of 
place as opposed to absent, and in respect of 
time to past or future, that now have no ex- 
istence. If we recur to the standard already 
assigned, namely, the writings of a plurality 
of celebrated authors, there will be no scope 
for the comprehension of words and idioms 
which can be denominated novel. It must be 
owned that we often meet w T ith such terms 
and phrases in newspapers, periodicals and 
political pamphlets. 

A popular orator in the House of Commons 
has a sort of patent from the public, during 
the continuance of his popularity, for coining 
as many as he pleases ; and they are no sooner 
issued than they obtrude themselves upon us 
from every quarter, in all the daily papers, 

9 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

letters, essays and addresses. But this is of no 
significance. Such words and phrases are but 
the fashion of a season at the most. The peo- 
ple, always fickle, are just as prompt to drop 
them as they were to take them up. And not 
one of a hundred survives the particular occa- 
sion or party-struggle which gave it birth. We 
may justly apply to them what Johnson says 
of a great number of the terms of the labori- 
ous and mercantile part of the people, "This 
fugitive cant can not be regarded as any part 
of the durable materials of a language, and 
therefore must be suffered to perish, with 
other things unworthy of preservation. ' ' 

As use, therefore, implies duration, and as 
even a few years are not sufficient for ascer- 
taining the characters of authors, the exam- 
ples, for the most part, to be found in this 
work are neither from living authors, nor 
from those who wrote before the revolution. 
The Bible is excepted from this restriction. 
And thus I have explained what use is, which 
is the sole mistress of the language. Gram- 
mar and criticism are but her ministers; but 
tho servants, they sometimes, like other min- 
isters, impose the dictates of their own humor 
upon the people as the commands of their 
sovereign. 



10 



CHAPTER II 
CANONS OF CRITICISM 



11 



CHAPTER II 
CANONS OF CRITICISM 

Purity is the first thing that claims our 
attention in elocution. All other qual- 
ities have their foundation in this. 
The great standard of purity is use. The 
grammarian compiles rules for the use of 
words ; the verbal critic calls attention to the 
abuses that have crept into the language. 
Both facilitate the knowledge of the language 
to natives and foreigners. Canons of criti- 
cism condemn as transgressions of the radi- 
cal laws of the language whatever is repug- 
nant to reputable, national and present use, 
in the sense wherein these epithets have been 
explained. But on this subject of use there 
arises two eminent questions, the determina- 
tion of which may lead to the establishment 
of other canons not less important. The first 
question is this: "Is reputable, national, and 
present use, which, for brevity's sake, I shall 
hereafter simply denominate good use, always 
uniform in her decisions?" The second is: 
"As no term, idiom, or application that is 
totally unsupported by her can be admitted to 
be good, is every term, idiom, and application 
that is countenanced by her to be esteemed 
good, and therefore worthy to be retained?" 

13 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

GOOD USE NOT ALWAYS UNIFORM 
IN HER DECISIONS 

In answer to the former of these questions, 
there is not, in every case, a perfect uniform- 
ity in the determinations even of such use as 
may justly be denominated good. Wherever 
a number of authorities can be produced in 
support of two different tho resembling modes 
of expression for the same thing, there is al- 
ways a divided use, and one can not be said 
to speak barbarously, or to oppose the usage 
of the language, who conforms to either side. 
This divided use has place sometimes in single 
words, sometimes in construction, and some- 
times in arrangement. In all such cases there 
is scope for choice; and it belongs, without 
question, to the critical art to lay down the 
principles, by which, in doubtful cases, our 
choice should be directed. 

There are, indeed, some differences in single 
words, which ought still to be retained. They 
are a kind of synonym, and afford a little 
variety, without occasioning any inconve- 
nience whatever. In arrangement, too, it cer- 
tainly holds that various manners suit various 
styles, as various styles suit various subjects 
and various sorts of composition. For this 
reason, unless when some obscurity, ambigu- 
ity, or inelegance is created, no disposition of 
words which has obtained the public approba- 
tion ought to be altogether rejected. In con- 

14 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

struction the case is somewhat different. 
Purity, perspicuity and elegance generally re- 
quire that in this there be the strictest uni- 
formity. Yet differences here are not only 
allowable, but even convenient, when attended 
with corresponding differences in the applica- 
tion. Thus the verb to found, when used lit- 
erally, is more properly followed by the prepo- 
sition on, as "The house was founded on a 
rock." In the metaphorical application, it is 
often better with in, as in this sentence, ' * They 
maintained that dominion is founded in 
grace." Both sentences would be badly ex- 
prest were the prepositions transposed. There 
are cases in which either is good. In those 
instances of divided use which give scope for 
choice, the following canons are proposed to 
assist us in assigning the preference. The au- 
thorities on both sides are supposed equal, or 
nearly so. When those on one side prepon- 
derate it is vain to oppose them. Custom 
when wavering may be swayed, but when re- 
luctant she can not be forced. 

Canon the First 

The first canon, then, shall be: When use 
is divided as to any particular word or phrase, 
and the expression used by one part has been 
preoccupied, or is in any instance susceptible 
of a different signification, and the expression 
employed by the other part never admits a 
different sense, both perspicuity and variety 

15 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

require that the form of expression which is 
in every instance strictly univocal, be pre- 
ferred. 

For this reason aught, signifying any thing, 
is preferable to ought, which is one of our 
defective verbs; by consequence, meaning 
consequently, is preferable to of consequence, 
as this expression is often employed to denote 
momentous or important. In the prepositions 
toward and towards, and the adverbs forward 
and forwards, backward and backwards, the 
two forms are used indiscriminately. But as 
the first form in all these is also an adjective, 
it is better to confine the particles to the sec- 
ond. Custom, too, seems at present to lean 
this way. Besides and beside serve both as 
conjunctions and as prepositions. There ap- 
pears some tendency to assign to each a sepa- 
rate province. To humor this tendency em- 
ploy the former as a conjunction, the latter 
as a preposition. 

This principle gives a preference to extern- 
porary, as an adjective for extempore. We 
say with equal propriety, an extemporary 
prayer, an extemporary sermon, and he prays 
extempore, he preaches extempore. By the 
same rule we prefer scarcely as an adverb to 
scarce, which is an adjective ; and exceedingly 
as an adverb, to exceeding, which is a parti- 
ciple. For the same reason I prefer that use 
which makes ye the nominative plural of the 
personal pronoun thou, and you the accusa- 

16 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

tive, when applied to an actual plurality. 
When used for the singular, custom has deter- 
mined it shall be you in both cases. 

From the like principle, in those verbs 
which have for the participle passive both the 
preterit form and one peculiar, the peculiar 
form ought to have the preference. Thus, 
I have gotten, I have hidden, I have spoken, 
are better thanT have got, I have hid, I have 
spoke. 

From the same principle I think ate is 
preferable in the preterit tense, and eaten in 
the participle, to eat, which is the constant 
form of the present, tho sometimes also used 
for both the others. 

Canon the Second 

The second canon is: In doubtful cases 
regard ought to be had in our decisions to the 
analogies of the language. 

For this reason I prefer contemporary to 
cotemporary. The general use in words com- 
pounded with the preposition con is to retain 
the n before a consonant and to expunge it 
before a vowel or an h mute. Thus, we say 
conjuncture, concomitant; but coequal, co- 
eternal, coinclude. I know but one exception, 
which is copartner. But in dubious cases we 
ought to follow the rule, and not the exception. 
If by the former canon the adverbs backwards 
and forwards are preferable to backward and 
forward, by this canon, from the principle of 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

analogy, afterwards and homewards should be 
preferred to afterward and homeward. Of 
the two adverbs ther about and thereabouts, 
compounded of the particle there and the 
preposition, the former alone is analogical, 
there being no such word in the language as 
abouts. The same holds of hereabout and 
whereabout. In the verbs to dare and to need, 
many say, in the third person present singu- 
lar, dare and need, as "he need not go; he 
dare not do it. ' ' Others say dares and needs. 
As the first usage is exceedingly irregular, 
hardly anything less than uniform practise 
could authorize it. This rule supplies us with 
another reason for preferring scarcely and 
exceedingly as adverbs to scarce and exceed- 
ing. The phrases "Would to God" and 
"Would God" both can plead the authority 
of custom; but the latter is strictly analogi- 
cal, the former is not. It is an established 
idiom in the English tongue that any of the 
auxiliaries might, could, would, should, did 
and had, with the nominative subjoined, 
should express sometimes a supposition, some- 
times a wish: and either is discovered from 
the context. The phrase ever so, as when we 
say, "tho he were ever so good" is prefer- 
able to never so. Of the two phrases, in no 
wise in three words, and nowise in one, the 
last only is conformable to the present genius 
of the tongue. Sometimes whether is followed 
by no, sometimes by not. For instance, some 

18 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

would say, "Whether he will or no" ; others, 
"Whether he will or not." Of these it is the 
latter only that is analogical. There is an 
ellipsis of the verb in the last clause, which 
when you supply, you find it necessary to use 
the adverb not, "Whether he will or will not. " 
By both the preceding canons we ought always 
to say rend in the present of the indicative 
and of the infinitive, and never rent, as is 
sometimes done. The preterit and participle 
passive are rent; the active participle is rend- 
ing and not renting. 

Canon the Third 

When terms or expressions are, in other re- 
spects, equal, that ought to be preferred which 
is most agreeable to the ear. 

Hence delicateness has given way to deli- 
cacy, authenticalness to authenticity, and vin- 
dicative to vindictive. Harsh sounds and un- 
musical periods must be avoided; yet the in- 
fluence of this rule prejudices both the former 
canons in some instances. Thus we say in- 
genuity in preference to ingeniousness, tho the 
former can not be deduced analogically from 
ingenious. 

Canon the Fourth 

In cases wherein none of the foregoing rules 
give either side a ground of preference, sim- 
plicity ought to determine our choice. 

Under the name of simplicity I must be 
understood to comprehend also brevity, for 

19 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

that expression is always the simplest which, 
with equal purity and perspicuity, is the 
briefest. We have, for instance, several active 
verbs which are used either with or without a 
preposition indiscriminately. Thus we say 
either accept, or accept of, admit or admit of, 
approve or approve of; in like manner address 
or address to, attain or attain to. In such in- 
stances it will hold, I suppose, pretty gen- 
erally that the simple form is preferable. This 
appears particularly in the passive voice, in 
which every one must see the difference. "His 
present w r as accepted of by his friend," "his 
excuse was admitted of by his master," "the 
magistrates were addrest to by the towns- 
men," are evidently much worse than "His 
present was accepted by his friend," "his 
excuse was admitted by his master," "the 
magistrates were addrest by the townsmen." 
Whenever the preposition obtains in the active 
voice, the rules of syntax will require it in the 
passive. Sometimes the verb has two regi- 
mens, and then the preposition is necessary 
to one of them ; as, " I address myself to my 
judges," "They addrest their vows to Apol- 
lo." We say subtract, not substract; subtrac- 
tion, not substraction. 

Canon the Fifth 

The fifth and only other canon that occurs 
to me on the subject of divided use, is in the 
few cases wherein neither perspicuity nor 

20 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

analogy, neither sound nor simplicity, assists 
us in fixing our choice, when it is safest to 
prefer that manner which is most conformable 
to ancient usage. 

This is founded on a very plain maxim, that 
in languages, as in several other things, any 
change, except when it is clearly advantageous, 
is ineligible. This affords another reason for 
preferring that usage which distinguishes ye 
as the nominative plural of thou, when more 
than one are addrest, from you the accusa- 
tive. For it may be remarked, that this dis- 
tinction is very regularly observed in our 
translation of the Bible, as well as in all our 
best ancient authors. Milton, too, is particu- 
larly attentive to it. Jail, jailer, were used 
before gaol, gaoler, from the French geole. 
We write garter and not jarter, tho the primi- 
tive be jartiere. Now would it violate the 
laws of pronunciation in English more to 
sound the ja as tho it were written ga, than 
to sound the ga as tho it were written jaf 

EVERYTHING FAVORED BY GOOD USE IS 

NOT ON THAT ACCOUNT WORTHY 

TO BE RETAINED 

This is the second question for ascertaining 
both the extent of the authority claimed by 
custom and the rightful prerogatives of criti- 
cism, as no term, idiom, or application that is 
totally unsupported by use can be admitted 

21 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

to be good. Is every term, idiom, and appli- 
cation that is countenanced by use, to be 
esteemed good, and therefore worthy to be re- 
tained ! Tho nothing in language can be good 
from which use withholds her approbation, 
there may be many things to which she gives 
it that are not in all respects good or such 
as are worthy to be retained and imitated. 
In some instances custom may very properly 
be checked by criticism, which has a sort of 
negative, and tho not the censorian power of 
instant degradation, the privilege of remon- 
strating, and by means of this, when used dis- 
creetly, of bringing what is bad into dis- 
repute, and so canceling it gradually, but 
which has no positive right to establish any- 
thing. Its power, too, is like that of elo- 
quence; it operates on us purely by persua- 
sion, depending for success on the solidity, or 
at least the speciousness of the arguments; 
whereas custom has an unaccountable and 
irresistible influence over us, an influence 
which is prior to persuasion, and independent 
of it — nay, sometimes even in contradiction to 
it. Of different modes of expression, that 
which comes to be favored by general practise 
may be denominated best, because established ; 
but it can not always be said with truth that 
it is established because best. The best forms 
of speech do not always establish themselves 
by their own superior excellence. Time and 
chance have an effect on language as on all 

22 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

things human. Hence the approbation of 
forms of speech in some respects faulty. 

In order to discard gross improprieties, do 
not use them. The difference between the bare 
omission of a word and the introduction of 
what is unusual is this : The former, provided 
what you substitute in its stead be proper and 
have the authority of custom, can never come 
under the observation, or at least the repre- 
hension, of a reader; whereas the latter 
shocks our ears immediately. Here, therefore, 
lies one principal province of criticism, to 
point out the characters of those words and 
idioms which deserve to be disfranchised and 
consigned to perpetual oblivion. It is by care- 
fully filing off all roughness and inequalities 
that languages, like metals, must be polished. 
This, indeed, is an effect of taste. Thence it 
happens that the first rudiments of taste no 
sooner appear in any people than the lan- 
guage begins, as it were, of itself, to emerge 
out of that state of rudeness in which it will 
ever be found in uncivilized nations. As they 
improve in arts and sciences their speech re- 
fines; it not only becomes richer and more 
comprehensive, but acquires greater precision, 
perspicuity and harmony. This effect taste 
insensibly produces among the people long 
before the language becomes the object of 
their attention. But when criticism has called 
their attention to this object, there is a prob- 
ability that the effect will be accelerated. 

23 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

It is no less certain, on the other hand, that 
in the declension of taste and science language 
will unavoidably degenerate, and tho the criti- 
cal art may retard a little, it will never be 
able to prevent this degeneracy. I shall there- 
fore subjoin a few remarks under the form of 
canons, in relation to those words that merit 
degradation. 

Canon the Sixth 

All words and phrases remarkably harsh 
and unharmonious, and not absolutely neces- 
sary, may be judged worthy of this fate. 

A word is absolutely necessary when we 
have no synonymous words to supply its place 
if dismist, or no way of conveying the same 
idea without a circumlocution. The only diffi- 
culty is to fix the criteria by which we may 
discriminate the obnoxious words from all 
others. The words bare-faced-ness, shame- 
faced-ness, un-saccess-fid-ness, dis-interest-ed- 
ness, ivrong-headed-ness, tender-heari-ed-ness, 
are compound words whose parts are not 
easily united; they are so heavy and drawl- 
ing that they have not more vivacity than a 
periphrasis to compensate for the defect of 
harmony. 

Another criterion is, when a word is so 
formed and accented as to render it of diffi- 
cult utterance to the speaker, and conse- 
quently disagreeable in sound to the hearer. 
This happens in two cases: First, when the 

24 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

syllables which immediately follow the ac- 
cented syllable are so crowded with consonants 
as of necessity to retard the pronunciation. 
The words questionless, chronicles, conventic- 
lers, concupiscence, are examples of this. The 
accent in all these is on the antepenultimate, 
for which reason the last two syllables ought 
to be pronounced quickly, a thing scarcely 
practicable on account of the number of con- 
sonants which occur in these syllables. The 
attempt to quicken the pronunciation, tho 
familiar to Englishmen, exhibits to strangers 
the appearance of awkward hurry, instead of 
that easy fluency to be found in those words 
wherein the unaccented syllables are natu- 
rally short. Such are levity, vanity, avidity, 
all accented in like manner on the antepenulti- 
mate. The second case in which a similar dis- 
sonance is found is when too many syllables 
follow the accented syllable, for tho these be 
naturally short, their number, if they exceed 
two, makes a disagreeable pronunciation. Ex- 
amples of this are the words primarily, cur- 
sorily, summarily, peremptorily, all of which 
are accented on the first syllable. 

A third criterion is, when a short or un- 
accented syllable is repeated, or followed by 
another short unaccented syllable. This al- 
ways gives the appearance of stammering to 
the pronunciation. Such are the words holily, 
sillily. The adverbial termination is added to 
few words ending in ly, as lowlily. The simple 

25 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

forms, heavenly, godly, timely, daily, homely, 
courtly, comely, serve both for adjective and 
adverb. 

It deserves our notice that the repetition of 
a syllable is never offensive when either one 
or both are long as in papa, mama, murmur, 
tartar, barbarous, lily. 

Beside the cases aforesaid, I know of none 
that ought to dispose us to the total disuse of 
words really significant. A little harshness 
by the collision of consonants, which, never- 
theless, our organs find no difficulty in articu- 
lating, and which do not suggest to the hearer 
the disagreeable idea either of precipitation 
or of stammering, are by no means a sufficient 
reason for the suppression of a useful term. 
The monosyllables, judg'd, drudg'd, grudg'd, 
which some have thought very offensive, ap- 
pear not in the least exceptionable, compared 
with the words above mentioned. It would 
not do well to introduce such hard and strong 
sounds too frequently; but when they are 
used sparingly and properly they have even 
a good effect. Variety in sound is advantage- 
ous to a language, and it is convenient that 
we should have some sounds that are rough 
and masculine, as well as some that are liquid 
and feminine. 

I observe this the rather, because I think 
there is at present a greater risk of going too 
far in refining than of not going far enough. 
The ears of some critics are immoderately 

26 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

delicate, and they would extirpate encroach, 
encroachment, inculcate, purport, methinks. 
This humor, were it prevalent, would injure 
our language. 

Canon the Seventh 

When etymology plainly points to a signifi- 
cation different from that which the word 
commonly bears, propriety and simplicity 
both require its dismission. 

I use the word plainly, because, when the 
etymology is from an ancient or foreign lan- 
guage, or from obsolete roots in our own lan- 
guage, or when it is obscure or doubtful, no 
regard should be had to it. The case is differ- 
ent when the roots are English, and, being in 
present use, clearly suggest another meaning. 
Of this kind is the word beholden, for obliged 
or indebted. As the passive participle of the 
verb to behold, it conveys a different sense. 
The word beholding to express the same thing 
is more exceptionable. To vouchsafe, as de- 
noting to condescend, is liable to a similar 
exception, and may be dispensed with. The 
verb to unloose should analogically signify 
to tie, in like manner as to untie signifies to 
loose. To what purpose is it, then, to retain a 
term without any necessity in a signification 
the reverse of that which its etymology mani- 
festly suggests? In the same way, to annul 
and to disannul ought, by analogy, to be con- 
traries, tho irregularly used as synonymous. 

27 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

The verb to unravel, commonly, indeed, as 
well as analogically, signifies to disentangle, 
to extricate ; sometimes, however, it is absurd- 
ly employed to denote the contrary, to dis- 
order, to entangle, as in these lines, in the 
address to the Goddess of Dulness : 

Or quite unravel all the reasoning thread, 
And hand some curious cobweb in its stead. 

All considerations of analogy, propriety, 
and perspicuity unite in persuading us to 
repudiate this preposterous application alto- 
gether. 

Canon the Eighth 

The eighth canon is, when any words be- 
come obsolete, or at least are never used, 
except as constituting part of particular 
phrases, it is better to dispense with their 
service entirely and give up the phrases. 

The reasons are: First, because the disuse 
in ordinary cases renders the term somewhat 
indefinite, and occasions a degree of obscurity ; 
second, because the introduction of words 
which never appear but with the same attend- 
ants gives the style an air of vulgarity and 
cant. Examples of this we have in the words 
lief, dint, whit, moot, pro and con; as "I had 
as lief go myself, ' ' for, ' ' I should like as well 
to go myself." He convinced his antagonist 
"by dint of argument," that is, "by strength 
of argument." "By dint of arms," for "by 

28 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

force of arms." "He is not a whit better/' for 
"he is no better." "The case you mention is 
a moot point/' for "a disputable point." 
"Debated pro and con/' for "on both sides." 

Canon the Ninth 

All those phrases which, when analyzed 
grammatically, include a solecism, and all 
those to which use has affixt a particular 
sense, but which, when explained by the gen- 
eral and established rules of the language, are 
susceptible either of a different sense or of no 
sense, ought to be discarded altogether. 

It is this kind of phraseology which is dis- 
tinguished by the epithet idiomatic, and has 
been originally the spawn, partly of ignorance 
and partly of affectation. Of the first sort, 
which includes a solecism, is the phrase, "I 
had rather do such a thing," for "I would 
rather do it." The auxiliary had, joined to 
the infinitive active do, is a gross violation of 
the rules of conjugation in our language, and 
tho good use may be considered as protecting 
this expression from being branded with the 
name of a blunder, yet as it is both irregular 
and unnecessary, I can foresee no inconve- 
nience that will arise from dropping it. The 
phrase "I had" has sprung from the contrac- 
tion I'd, and that from I would. Of the sec- 
ond sort, which when explained grammatical- 
ly, leads to a different sense from its original 
import, is the phrase, "He sings a good song," 

29 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

for "He sings well." "He plays a good fid- 
dle, ■ ' f or " He plays well on the fiddle. ' ' We 
speak of playing a tune; but we play on the 
instrument. 

We say a "river empties itself." To empty 
is to evacuate. A river falls into the sea, a 
ship falls down the river. The following 
phrases are vile: "Currying favor," "Hav- 
ing a month's mind for a thing," "Dancing 
attendance," and many others. Of the same 
kind also, tho not reprehensible in the same 
degree, is the idiomatic use that is sometimes 
made of certain verbs, as stand, for insist: 
"He stands upon security"; take, for under- 
stand, in such phrases as these, "You take 
me," and "as I take it"; hold, for continue, 
as "He does not hold long in one mind." 
But of all kinds, the worst is that wherein the 
words, when construed, are susceptible of no 
meaning at all. Such an expression is the 
following: "There were seven ladies in the 
company, every one prettier than another," 
by which it is intended, I suppose, to denote 
that they were all very pretty. One prettier 
implies that there is another less pretty ; but 
where every one is prettier, there can be none 
less, and consequently none more pretty. 
Such trash is the disgrace of any tongue. 
Ambitiously to display nonsensical phrases of 
this sort, as some writers have affected to do, 
under the ridiculous notion of a familiar and 
easy manner, is not to set off the riches of a 

30 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

language, but to expose its rags. As such 
idioms, therefore, err alike against purity, 
simplicity, perspicuity and elegance, they are 
entitled to no quarter from the critic. A few 
of these in the writings of good authors I 
shall have occasion to point out when I come 
to speak of solecism and impropriety. 

The five first of these canons suggest the 
principles by which our choice ought to be 
directed in cases wherein use is wavering, the 
four last point out improvements in the criti- 
cal art. There ought to be in support of every 
sentence of proscription from our mother 
tongue, an evident plea for the principles of 
perspicuity, elegance and harmony. 

The want of etymology is not a sufficient 
ground for the expression of words significant 
and useful; as well might we reject the serv- 
ices of a man who could give no history of his 
pedigree. Tho what is called cant is gener- 
ally, not necessarily, nor always, without ety- 
mology, it is not this defect, but the baseness 
of the use, which fixes on it that disgraceful 
appellation. No absolute monarch has it more 
in his power to ennoble a person of obscure 
birth than it is in the power of good use to 
ennoble words of low or dubious extraction; 
such, for instance, as have either arisen, no- 
body knows how, like fib, banter, bigot, fop, 
flippant, among the rabble; or like flimsy, 
sprung from the cant of manufacturers. It is 
never from an attention to etymology, which 

31 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

would frequently mislead us, but from cus- 
tom, the only infallible guide in this matter, 
that the meanings of words in present use 
must be learned. And, indeed, if the want in 
question were material, it would equally ef- 
fect all those words, no inconsiderable part of 
our language, whose descent is doubtful or 
unknown. Besides, in no case can the line 
of derivation be traced backward to infinity. 
We must always terminate in some words of 
whose genealogy no account can be given. 

These words are base in the birth: Trans- 
mogrify, bamboozle, topsy-turvy, pell-mell, 
helter-skelter, hurly-burly. A person of low 
birth may be raised to the rank of nobility, 
and may become it ; but nothing can add dig- 
nity to that man, or fit him for the com- 
pany of gentlemen, who bears indelible marks 
of the clown in his look, gait and whole be- 
havior. 



32 



CHAPTER III 
OF GRAMMATICAL PURITY 



33 



CHAPTER III 
OF GRAMMATICAL PURITY 

It was remarked in Chapter II, that tho 
the grammatical art bears much the 
same relation to the rhetorical which the 
art of the mason bears to that of the architect, 
there is one very important difference between 
the two cases. In architecture it is not neces- 
sary that he who designs should execute his 
own plans. He may therefore be an excellent 
artist in his way who has neither skill nor 
practise in masonry. On the contrary, it is 
equally incumbent on the orator to design and 
to execute. He ought, therefore, to be master 
of the language which he speaks or writes, and 
to be capable of adding to grammatical purity 
those higher qualities of elocution which will 
give grace and energy to his discourse. I pro- 
pose, then, in the first place, by way of laying 
the foundation, to consider that purity which 
he has in common with the grammarian, and 
then proceed to consider those qualities of 
speech which are peculiarly oratorical. 

It was also observed before, that the art of 
the logician is universal, the art of the gram- 
marian particular. Our subject being lan- 
guage, it is necessary to make choice of a par- 
ticular tongue. Let the English be that 

35 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

tongue. Pure English implies three things: 
First, that the words BE English; second, 
that their construction be in the English 
idiom; third, that the words and phrases be 
employed to express the precise meaning 
which custom has affixt to them. 

As purity implies three things, there are 
three different ways in which it may be in- 
jured. First, the words used may not be Eng- 
lish. This fault has received from gramma- 
rians the denomination of barbarism. Sec- 
ondly, the construction of the sentence may 
not be in the English idiom. This has the 
name solecism. Thirdly, the words and 
phrases may not be employed to express the 
precise meaning which custom has affixt to 
them. This is termed impropriety. 

THE BARBARISM 

The reproach of barbarism may be incurred 
in three different ways : By the use of words 
entirely obsolete, by the use of words entirely 
new, or by new formations and compositions 
from simple and primitive words in present 
use. 

By the Use of Obsolete Words 

Obsolete , words, proper in the days of our 
forefathers, have no more title to be intro- 
duced now than foreign words ; besides, they 
suggest an idea of stiffness and affectation. 

36 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

We ought, therefore, to avoid these words 
which are no longer used in discourse or mod- 
ern composition. 

This rule does not apply to poets, who take 
what license they please — so the laws of versi- 
fication allow them. Besides, in treating some 
topics — passages of ancient story, for example. 
— there may be found sometimes a suitable- 
ness in the introduction of old words. In cer- 
tain kinds of style, when used sparingly and 
with judgment, they serve to add the vener- 
able air of antiquity to the narrative. In 
burlesque also they often produce a good 
effect. But it is admitted on all sides that 
this species of writing is not strictly subjected 
to the laws of purity. 

By the Use of New Words 

Another tribe of barbarisms much more 
numerous is constituted by new words. Here, 
indeed, the hazard is more imminent, as the 
tendency to this extreme is more prevalent. 
Nay, our language is in greater danger of 
being overwhelmed by an inundation of for- 
eign words than of any other species of de- 
struction. There is, doubtless, some excuse 
for borrowing the assistance of neighbors, 
when their assistance is really wanted — that 
is, when we can not do our business without 
it ; but there is certainly a meanness in choos- 
ing to be indebted to others for what we can 
easily be supplied with out of our own stock. 

37 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

When words are introduced by any writer 
from a sort of necessity in order to avoid tedi- 
ous and languid circumlocutions, there is rea- 
son to believe they will soon be adopted by 
others convinced of the necessity, and will at 
length be naturalized by the public. The pub- 
lic should, however, reject those intruders 
brought in through a licentious affectation of 
novelty. 

The rules of pronunciation in French and 
English are different, and the introduction of 
foreign words load our grammatical rules 
with exceptions which corrupt the simplicity 
and regularity of our tongue. 

Nor is this the only way in which they cor- 
rupt its simplicity. Let it be observed fur- 
ther that one of the principal beauties, of any 
language, and the most essential to simplicity, 
results from this : That a few plain and primi- 
tive words called roots have, by an analogy, 
which has insensibly established itself, given 
rise to an infinitive number of derivative and 
compound words, between which and the 
primitive, and between the former and their 
conjugates, there is a resemblance in sense 
corresponding to that which there is in sound. 
Hence it will happen that a word may be 
very emphatic in the language to which it 
owes its birth, arising from the light that is 
reflected on it by the other words of the same 
etymology; but when transplanted into an- 
other language loses its emphasis entirely. 

38 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

The Latin language was corrupted by the 
introduction of foreign words; the Greek 
was preserved pure by the rejection of all for- 
eign idioms. The Greeks called every for- 
eign term in their writers a barbarism. If the 
introduction of exotic words were never ad- 
mitted except in such cases, or in order to 
supply an evident want among ourselves, we 
should not at present have one such term 
where we have fifty. The advice of the poet 
with regard to both the before-mentioned 
sorts of barbarism is extremely good. 

In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; 
Alike fantastic, if too new or old: 
Be not the first by whom the new are try'd, 
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. 

By the Use of Words New-modeled 

The third species of barbarism is that pro- 
duced by new formations and compositions 
from primitives in present use. I acknowl- 
edge that when the English analogy is ob- 
served in the derivation or composition, and 
when the new-coined word is wanted in the 
language, greater liberty ought to be given 
on this matter than on the former. The rea- 
son of the difference will appear from what 
has been said already. But still this is a lib- 
erty which needs an excuse from necessity, 
and is in no ease pardonable, unless the words 
be at least not disagreeable to the ear, and be 
so analogically formed that a reader, without 

39 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

the help of the context, may easily discover 
the meaning. 

If the word be a substantive, the preposi- 
tion is commonly of; if the passive participle, 
by; and if the active particple, no preposition 
is requisite. Thus self-love is the love of one's 
self. In the same way are resolved self -hate, 
self-murder, self-preservation. When we say 
of a man that he is self -condemned, we mean 
that he is condemned by himself. A self-con- 
suming fire is a fire consuming itself. Proper 
names when introduced into the English 
tongue should be made easy of pronunciation 
by such slight alteration as analogy dictates. 
But it is carrying the refinement too far to 
write Zerdusht for Zoroaster, Confutee for 
Confucius, Moslem for Mussulman, Pasha for 
Bashaw. 

I shall just mention another set of bar- 
barisms, which also comes under this class, 
and arises from the abbreviation of poly- 
syllables by lopping off all the syllables ex- 
cept the first, or the first and second. In- 
stances of this are: Hyp for hypochondriac, 
rep for reputation, ult for ultimate, penult 
for penultimate, incog for incognito, hyper 
for hypercritic, extra for extraordinary. Hap- 
pily all these affected terms have been denied 
the public suffrage. The humor of abbrevia- 
ting now hardly subsists among us, and re- 
quires no particular notice. 

The two classes of barbarisms last men- 

40 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

tioned, comprehending new words and new 
formations from words still current, offend 
against use, considered both as reputable and 
as national. There are many other sorts of 
transgressions which might be enumerated 
here, such as vulgarisms, provincial idioms, 
and the cant of particular professions. But 
these are more commonly ranked among the 
offenses against elegance than among the vio- 
lations of grammatical purity, and will, there- 
fore, be considered afterward. 

THE SOLECISM 

I now enter on the consideration of the sec- 
ond way by which the purity of style is in- 
jured — the solecism. This is accounted by 
grammarians a more serious fault than the 
former, as it displays a greater ignorance of 
the fundamental rules of the language. The 
sole aim of grammar is to convey the knowl- 
edge of the language; consequently the de- 
gree of grammatical demerit in every blunder 
can only be ascertained by the degree of defi- 
ciency in this knowledge which it betrays. 
But the aim of eloquence is quite another 
thing. The speaker or the writer does not 
purpose to display his knowledge in the lan- 
guage, but only to employ the language which 
he speaks or writes in order to attain some fur- 
ther end. He uses this knowledge solely as 
the instrument to please, to move, or to per- 

41 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

suade. When solecisms are not glaring, when 
they do not darken the sense, or suggest some 
ridiculous idea, the rhetorician regards them 
as much more excusable than barbarisms. The 
former are the effects of negligence, the latter 
of affectation. 

Grammatical inaccuracies ought to be avoid- 
ed by a writer, for two reasons. One is that a 
reader will much sooner discover them than a 
hearer however attentive he be. The other is, 
as writing implies more leisure and greater 
coolness than is implied in speaking, defects 
of this kind, when discovered in the former, 
will be less excused than they would be in the 
latter. 

To enumerate all the kinds of solecism into 
which it is possible to fall would be both a use- 
less and an endless task. The transgression of 
any of the syntactic rules is a solecism; and 
almost every rule may be transgrest in vari- 
ous ways. But as only novices are capable of 
falling into the most flagrant solecisms — such, 
I mean, as betray ignorance in the rudiments 
of the tongue, I shall leave it to grammarians 
to exemplify, and class the various blunders 
of this sort which may be committed by the 
learner. 

Cherubim for cherub, and seraphim for 
seraph are an inaccuracy of the plural for the 
singular. Cherubims and seraphims are quite 
improper for the plural. 

Inaccuracies are often found in the way 

42 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

wherein the degrees of comparison are ap- 
plied and construed. Some of these, I suspect, 
have, as yet, escaped the animadversion of all 
our critics. Before I produce examples, it will 
be proper to observe that the comparative de- 
gree implies commonly a comparison of one 
thing with one other thing; the superlative, 
on the contrary, always implies a comparison 
of one thing with many others. The former 
consequently requires to be followed by the 
singular number; the latter by the plural. 
In our language the conjunction than must be 
interposed between the things compared in the 
former case; the preposition of is always 
used in the latter. 

1 ' This noble nation has of all others admit- 
ted fewer corruptions," should read, "This 
noble nation has admitted fewer corruptions 
than any other. ' ' 

Sometimes, indeed, the comparative is right- 
ly followed by a plural, as "He is wiser than 
we"; but it can not be construed with the 
preposition of before that to which it is com- 
pared. We rightly say, "He is the taller of 
the two," because the words following the 
preposition comprehend both sides of the com- 
parison. We also say, ' ' This is the weaker of 
the two." 

I shall subjoin to this an inaccuracy in a 
comparison of equality, where, tho the positive 
degree only is used, the construction must be 
similar to that of the comparative, both being 

43 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

followed by conjunctions which govern no 
case. ' c Such notions would be avowed at this 
time by none but rosicrucians, and fanatics as 
mad as them/ 9 Grammatically they, the verb 
are being understood. Than and as are used 
as conjunctions in the comparison of equality. 

It is wrong to say, "There's the books you 
wanted" for "there are the books"; and "you 
was present" for "you were present," when 
addrest to a single person, is reckoned a sole- 
cism. 

Incorrectness in using the superlative degree 
appears in the subsequent quotations: "The 
vice of covetousness is what enters deepest 
into the soul of any other." An instance of 
the same fault I shall give from a writer of 
no small merit for harmony and elegance: 
"We have a profession set apart for the pur- 
pose of persuasion, wherewith a talent of this 
kind would prove the likeliest perhaps of any 
other. " I do not here criticize the word other 
in those examples, which, in my opinion, is 
likewise faulty, after the superlative ; but this 
fault comes under another category. The er- 
ror I mean, at present, to point out is the 
superlative followed by the singular number, 
"the deepest of any other," "the likeliest of 
any other." We should not say, "the best of 
any man, " or " the best of any other man, ■ ' for 
i ' the best of men. ' ' We may indeed say, ' ' He is 
the oldest of the family. ' ' But the word fam- 
ily is a collective noun, and equivalent to all in 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the house. In like manner, it may be said, ■ ' The 
eyes are the worst of his face." But this 
expression is evidently deficient. The face is 
not the thing with which the eyes are com- 
pared, but contains the things with which 
they are compared. The sentence, when the 
ellipsis is supplied, stands thus: "Of all the 
features of his face, the eyes are the worst. " 

Both the expressions above censured may be 
corrected by substituting the comparative in 
place of the superlative. "The vice of covet- 
ousness is what enters deeper into the soul 
than any other." And we have a profession, 
etc., wherein a talent of this kind would prove 
likelier perhaps than any other. It is also 
possible to retain the superlative and render 
the expression grammatical: " Covetousness 
is what of all vices enters the deepest into the 
soul," and "wherein a talent of this kind 
would perhaps of all talents prove the like- 
liest." 

The numeral adjective in the following sen- 
tence belongs to no entire word in the sentence 
as its substantive. "The first project was to 
shorten discourse by cutting polysyllables into 
one." The term one relates to syllable, a part 
of the word polysyllable. This is ungram- 
matical. The expression is likewise excep- 
tionable on the score of impropriety. "My 
Christian and surname begin and end with the 
same letters." The word Christian is here an 
adjective, having for its substantive the last 

45 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

syllable of the word surname. The expression 
is also exceptionable on the score of perspi- 
cuity, of which afterward. 

Sometimes the pronoun does not suit the 
antecedent. "Each of the sexes," says Ad- 
dison, "should keep within its particular 
bounds, and content themselves to exult with- 
in their respective districts." Themselves 
and their can not grammatically refer to each 
as singular. Besides the trespass here is the 
more glaring that these pronouns are coupled 
with its, referring to the same noun. 

In no part of speech do good writers more 
frequently fall into mistakes than in the verbs. 
Of these I shall give some specimens out of a 
much greater number which might be collect- 
ed. The first shall be of a wrong tense, "Ye 
ivill not come unto me that ye might have 
life." In two clauses thus connected, when 
the first verb is in the present or the future, 
the second, which is dependent on it, can not 
be in the past. The words, therefore, ought to 
have been translated, ' ' that ye may have life. ' ' 
On the contrary, had the first verb been in the 
preterit, the second ought to have been so, too. 
Thus, "Ye would not come to me," or "Ye 
did not come to me that ye might have life," 
is entirely grammatical. In either of these 
instances, to use the present tense would be 
erroneous. "When the first verb is in the pre- 
terperf ect, or the present perfect, as some call 
it, because it has a reference both to the past 

46 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

and to the present, the second, I imagine, may 
be in either tense. Thus, "Ye have not come 
to me that ye might, or that ye may have life," 
seem equally unexceptionable. 

In expressing abstract and universal truths, 
the present tense of the verb ought to be used, 
because it has no relation to time in such cases, 
but serves as a copula to the two terms of the 
preposition. "Have made a discovery that 
there was no God" ; properly is. 

The third example shall be of a wrong mood. 
"If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there 
remember est that thy brother has ought 
against thee." The construction of the two 
verbs bring and rememberest ought to be the 
same, as they are both under the regimen of 
the conjunction if. Yet the one is in the sub- 
junctive mood, the other in the indicative. 

The fourth instance shall be the omission of 
an essential part of one of the complex tenses, 
the writer apparently referring to a part of 
the verb occurring in a former clause of the 
sentence, altho the part referred to will not 
supply the defect but some other part not 
produced. Of this the following is an ex- 
ample: "I shall do all I can to persuade 
others to take the same measures for their cure 
which I have/' Here we have a reference in 
the end to the preceding verb take. Yet it is 
not the word take which will supply the sense, 
but taken. This participle, therefore, ought 
to have been added. 

47 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

The fifth specimen in the verbs shall be of 
a faulty reference to a part to be mentioned. 
"This dedication may serve for almost any 
book that has, is, or shall be published." Has 
in this place is merely part of a complex tense ; 
you can not say "any book that has pub- 
lished," or, "has be published." The phrase 
should read, "That has been or shall be pub- 
lished." The word is should be expunged as 
adding nothing to the sense. 

"Will it be urged that the four gospels are 
as old, or even older than tradition." The 
words as old and older can not have a com- 
mon regimen ; the one requires to be followed 
by the conjunction as, the other by than. As 
old as tradition, and even older, would have 
been right. 

The same inaccuracy in the construction of 
verbs. "It requires few talents to which most 
men are not born, or at least may not ac- 
quire"; better thus, "or which at least they 
may not acquire." There is an error of the 
same kind in this sentence, "The Court of 
Chancery frequently mitigates, and breaks the 
teeth of the common law." The regimen is 
absurd here; l( and breaks the teeth of" should 
be expunged. "Give the Whigs but power 
enough to insult their sovereign, engross his 
favors to themselves, and to oppress and 
plunder their fellow subjects; they presently 
grow into good humor and good language to- 
ward the crown." Men may grow good hu- 

48 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

mored, but grow into good language is insuf- 
ferable. 

I shall add to these an instance in the syn- 
tax of nouns. " There is never wanting a set 
of evil instruments, who either out of mad 
zeal, private hatred, or filthy lucre, are always 
ready. ' ' Some men act sometimes out of mad 
zeal and private hatred, but it is not English 
to say they act out of filthy lucre. The fol- 
lowing is of the same class : ' ' There is one that 
will think herself obliged to double her 'kind- 
ness and caresses of me.' " The word kind- 
ness requires to be followed by either to or 
for, and can not be construed with the preposi- 
tion of. 

We often find something irregular in the 
management of the prepositions ; for instance, 
in the omission of one altogether: "He la- 
mented the fatal mistake the world had been 
so long in using silk- worms. ' ' Another in is 
necessary to complete the construction, wheth- 
er we suppose the in mentioned to belong to 
the preceding words, or to the succeeding. 
But as it would have sounded harshly to sub- 
join another in immediately after the former, 
it would have been better to give the sentence 
another turn, as "He lamented the fatal mis- 
take in which the world had been so long in 
using silk- worms. ' ' 

We have a similar omission, tho not of a 
preposition, in the expression following: 
"That the discoursing on politics shall be 

49 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

looked upon as dull as talking on the weather. ! ' 
Syntax absolutely requires that the sentence 
in this form should have another as immedi- 
ately before the first. At the same time, it 
must be owned that this would render the ex- 
pression very inelegant. This dilemma might 
have been avoided by giving another turn to 
the concluding part, as thus, " shall be looked 
upon as equally dull with talking on the 
weather. ' ' 

An error in the choice of a preposition: 
"The greatest masters of critical learning 
differ among one another"; differ among 
themselves would be right. 

Inaccuracy in conjunctions: "A petty con- 
stable will neither act cheerfully or wisely.' ' 
Properly, ' ' act neither cheerfully nor wisely. ' ' 
Neither can not, grammatically, be followed 
by or. Incorrectness in adverbs: "Lest I 
should be charged for being worse than my 
word, I shall endeavor to satisfy my reader by 
pursuing my method proposed, if peradven- 
ture he can call to mind what that method 
was," The adverb peradventure, expressing 
a degree of evidence or credibility, can not 
regularly be construed with the hypothetical 
conjunction if. It is only to affirmations and 
negations, not to bare suppositions, that all 
the adverbs denoting certainty, probability, 
or possibility properly belong. 

The following passage in the common ver- 
sion of the Bible is subject to the same cen- 

50 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

sure: "Micaiah said, 'if thou certainly return 
in peace, then hath not the Lord spoken by 
me.' " The translators in this, as in some 
other places, have been misled by a well-meant 
attempt to express the force of a Hebraism, 
which often can not be exprest in English. 

I shall conclude this article with a quotation 
from an excellent author, of which, indeed, it 
would not be easy to say in what part the sole- 
cism may be discovered, the whole passage 
being so perfectly solecistical : "As he that 
would keep his house in repair must attend 
every little breach or flaw, and supply it im- 
mediately, else time alone will bring all to 
ruin; how much more the common accidents 
of storms and rain ? He must live in perpetual 
danger of his house falling about his ears ; and 
will find it cheaper to throw it quite down, 
and build it again from the ground, perhaps 
upon a new foundation, or at least in a new 
form, which may neither be safe nor so con- 
venient as the old." It is impossible to ana- 
lyze this sentence grammatically, or to say 
whether it be one sentence or more. It seems 
by the conjunction as to begin with a com- 
parison, but we have not a single hint of the 
subject illustrated. Besides, the introducing 
of the interrogation, "how much more?" after 
else, which could be regularly followed by an 
affirmation or negation, and the incoherency 
of the next clause, "he must live/' render it, 
indeed, all of a piece. 

51 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

So much for the solecism, of which examples 
might be multiplied without end. Purity of 
expression has but a small share of merit, but 
purity of expression contributes to elegance 
of composition and rhetorical delivery. 

IMPROPRIETY 

I come now to consider the third and last 
class of faults against purity, to which I gave 
the name of impropriety. The barbarism is 
an offense against etymology, the solecism 
against syntax, their impropriety against lexi- 
cography. The business of the lexicographer 
is to assign to every word of the language the 
precise meaning or meanings which use has 
assigned to it. To do this is the grammarian's 
province, tho commonly executed by a differ- 
ent hand as etymology and syntax. As words 
may be misapplied, and employed as signs of 
things to which use has not affixt them, the 
following rules will direct us to avoid impro- 
prieties in single words or in phrases. 

Impropriety in Single Words 

Improprieties from resemblance or prox- 
imity in sound. It is by proximity in sound 
that several are misled to use the word obser- 
vation for observance, as when they speak of 
the religious observation of a festival for the 
religious observance of it. Both words spring 
from the root observe, but in different signifi- 

52 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

cations. When to observe signifies to remark, 
the verbal noun is observation; when it sig- 
nifies to obey or to keep, the verbal is observ- 
ance. 

By a similar mistake endurance has been 
used for duration, and confounded with it; 
whereas its proper sense is patience. It is 
derived from the active verb to endure, which 
signifies to suffer, and not from the neuter, 
which signifies to last. In the days of Queen 
Elizabeth the word endurance was synony- 
mous with duration, whereas now it is in this 
acceptation obsolete. Nay, even in a later 
period, about the middle of the last century, 
several words were used synonymously which 
we now invariably discriminate. Such are the 
terms state and estate, property and propriety, 
import and importance, conscience and con- 
sciousness, arrant and errant. 

Human and humane are sometimes con- 
founded, tho the only authorized sense of the 
former is, belonging to man; of the latter, 
kind and compassionate. Humanly is im- 
properly put for humanely in these lines of 
Pope: 

Tho' learn ? d, well-bred; and tho' well-bred, sincere; 
Modestly bold, and humanly severe. 

The abstract noun humanity is equally adapt- 
ed to both senses. 

The adjectives ceremonious and ceremonial 
are sometimes used promiscuously. Ceremoni- 

53 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

ous signifies a form of civility; ceremonial a 
religious rite. We never say constructing a 
sentence when we speak of the disposition of 
its words, but construing. We never hear of 
construing a fabric, but constructing a build- 
ing. Academic and academician are widely 
different; sophist and sophister are not the 
same; the former is a teacher, the latter a 
false reasoner. 

"To demean one's self" has been improper- 
ly used by some writers, misled by the sound 
of the second syllable, for "to debase one's 
self," or "to behave meanly"; whereas the 
verb to demean implies no more than the verb 
to behave. Both require an adverb or some- 
thing equivalent to enable them to express 
whether the demeanor or behavior is good or 
bad, noble or mean. 

E'er, a contraction of the adverb ever, has 
from a resemblance, or rather an identity in 
sound, been mistaken for the conjunction ere, 
before; and in like manner its, the genitive, 
of the pronoun it, for His, a contraction of 
it is. 

In the same way bad is sometimes very im- 
properly used for bade, the preterit of the 
verb bid, and sate for sat, the preterit of sit. 
The only proper use of the word bad is as a 
synonym for ill, and to sate is the same signifi- 
cation as to glut. 

The word genii is erroneously used for 
geniuses; but the former is the plural of 

54 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

genius, a, demon ; the latter means persons of 
genius. Brothers means children of the same 
parents ; brethren men of the same profession, 
religion, or nation. 

Improprieties arising from similitude in 
sense, as veracity for reality. In strict pro- 
priety the word is only applicable to persons, 
and signifies not physical but moral truth. 

There is no sort of joy more grateful to the 
mind of man than that " which ariseth from 
the invention of truth." For invention he 
ought to have said discovery. 

Epithet hath been used corruptly to denote 
title or appellation; whereas it only signifies 
some attribute exprest by an adjective. 

In the same way, verdict has been made to 
usurp the place of testimony; and the word 
risible has been perverted from its original 
sense, which is capable of laughing, to denote 
ridiculous, laughable, or fit to be laughed at. 
Hence these new-fangled phrases, risible jests 
and risible absurdities. The proper discrimi- 
nation between risible and ridiculous is, that 
the former has an active, the latter a passive 
signification. Thus we say, "Man is a risible 
animal," "A fop is a ridiculous character." 
To substitute the former instead of the latter, 
and say, "A fop is a risible character," is no 
better English than to substitute the latter 
instead of the former and say, "Man is a 
ridiculous animal." In confirmation of this 
distinction, it may be further remarked that 

55 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

the abstract risibility, which analogically 
ought to determine the import of the concrete, 
is still limited to its original and active sense, 
the faculty of laughter. Where our language 
has provided us with distinct names for the 
active, verbal and the passive, as no distinc- 
tion is more useful for preventing ambiguity, 
so no distinction ought to be more sacredly 
observed. 

The word together often supplies the place 
of successively, as "I do not remember that I 
ever spoke three sentences together in my 
whole life" — three sentences successively in 
my life. The word everlasting has been em- 
ployed to denote time without beginning, tho 
it properly denotes time without end, as, 
1 ' From everlasting to everlasting thou art 
God. ' ■ The proper expression is, ' * From eter- 
nity to eternity thou art God." The words 
certain and manifest are often equivocally 
used for apparent. Both etymology and the 
most frequent use lead us so directly to the 
signification seeming as opposed to real, or 
visible as opposed to concealed, that, at first, 
we are always in hazard of mistaking it. For 
the same reason I do not like the phrase to 
make appear (tho a very common one) for 
to prove, to evince, to show. By the aid of 
sophistry a man may make a thing appear to 
be what it is not. This is very different from 
showing what it is. 

Abundance in the following quotation is, 

56 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

I imagine, improperly used for a great deal, 
1 'I will only mention that passage of the bus- 
kins, which after abundance of persuasion, 
you would hardly suffer to be cut from your 
legs." 

The word due in the citation subjoined is 
not only improperly but preposterously em- 
ployed. "What right the first observers of 
nature and instructors of mankind had to the 
title of sages we can not say. It was due per- 
haps more to the ignorance of the scholars 
than to knowledge of the masters." Due is 
here used for owing. The sentence should 
read, ' c It took its rise, perhaps, more from the 
ignorance of the scholars than from the knowl- 
edge of the masters. ' ' 

Falseness, in a moral sense, denotes want of 
veracity, and is applied to persons; it must 
not be used for falsity or falsehood, which are 
applicable to things. Falsity denotes contra- 
riety to truth ; falsehood an untrue assertion. 
Negligence implies a habit; neglect denotes 
an act. We can not say, "The negligence of 
this leaves us exposed," but "The neglect of 
this," etc. 

Precisely of the same kind is the misappli- 
cation of the word conscience in this quota- 
tion : ' ' The conscience of approving one 's self 
a benefactor to mankind is the noblest recom- 
pense for being so." Properly the conscious- 
ness; the former denotes the faculty, the lat- 
ter a particular exertion. 

57 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

This impropriety is reversed in the citation 
following : "I apprehend that all the sophism 
which has been, or can be employed, will not 
be sufficient to acquit this system at the tri- 
bunal of reason. " For sophism he should 
have said sophistry; this denotes fallacious 
reasoning, that only a fallacious argument. 

Sometimes the neuter verb is mistaken for 
the active. "What Tully says of war may be 
applied to disputing; it should be always so 
managed as to remember that the only end of 
it is peace. ' ' Properly remind us. 

Sometimes again, the active verb is mistaken 
for the neuter. "I may say, without vanity, 
that there is not a gentleman in England bet- 
ter read in tombstones than myself, my studies 
having laid very much in churchyards." 
Properly lain. The use of the active verb lay 
for the neuter lie is peculiar to the Cockney 
idiom. 

The word plenty used adjectively for plenti- 
ful is a gross vulagrism. Nobody says "the 
beasts by whom they are hunted," but the 
beasts by which. The word precept is some- 
times used for doctrine, as, "I firmly believe 
the divine precept" We are required to 
believe the doctrines of our religion, and to 
obey its precepts. ' ' Their success may be com- 
pared to that of a certain prince, who placed, 
it is said, cats and other animals adored by the 
Egyptians in front of his army when he in- 
vaded that people. A reverence for these 

58 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

phantoms made the Egyptians lay down their 
arms and become an easy conquest." What 
the author here intended to say it is hard to 
conjecture; but it is unquestionable that in 
no sense whatever can cats and other animals 
be called phantoms. 

The genuine source of the vulgarism seems 
to be the affectation of an easy, familiar and 
careless manner ; it is conquered by discipline 
and the study of good authors. A desire for 
novelty is sure to corrupt the style of young 
persons; and a paucity of ideas is not sup- 
plied by a superabundance of words. He that 
deserts the common road, to deck himself in 
the glitter of stolen jewels, will not long shine. 
Nor will a house be well furnished when the 
utensils are superfluous. The same observa- 
tions are applicable to language: the riches 
of language have their limits ; and, if you will 
enjoy them to advantage, be careful to pro- 
cure them lawfully and to use them wisely. 

Impropriety in Phrases 

I come now to consider the improprieties 
which occur in phrases. The first of this kind 
of which I shall take notice is, when the ex- 
pression, on being grammatically analyzed, is 
discovered to contain some inconsistency. Such 
is the phrase of all others after the superlative, 
common with many English writers. Inter- 
preted by the rules of syntax, it implies that 
a thing is different from itself. Take these 

59 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

words for an example, "It celebrates the 
Church of England as the most perfect of 
all others." Properly, either "as more per- 
fect than any other," or "as the most perfect 
of all churches. ' ' 

Sometimes, through mere inattention, slips 
of this kind are committed; as "I do not 
reckon that we want a genius more than the 
rest of our neighbors." The impropriety is 
corrected by omitting the words in italics. 
Another oversight of Swift is the following: 
"I had like to have gotten one or two broken 
heads for impertinence," for "once or twice 
my head was likely to have been broken." 
The Dean had but one head. A passage form- 
erly quoted is liable to the same criticism: 
"The first project was to shorten discourse by 
cutting polysyllables into one." One thing 
may be cut into two or more, but it is incon- 
ceivable that by cutting, two or more things 
should be made one. 

Another, still from the same hand, "I sol- 
emnly declare that I have not wilfully com- 
mitted the least mistake." The words used 
here are incompatible : a wrong wilfully com- 
mitted is no mistake. 

I shall next illustrate those by which an 
author is made to say one thing when he 
means another. Of this kind I shall produce 
only one example at present, as I shall have 
occasion afterward of considering the same 
fault under the head of perspicuity. "I will 

60 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

instance in one opinion, which I look upon 
every man obliged in conscience to quit, or 
in prudence to conceal ; I mean, that whoever 
argues in defense of absolute power in a single 
person, tho he offers the old plausible plea, 
that it is his opinion, which he can not help, 
unless he be convinced, ought in all free states 
to be treated as the common enemy of man- 
kind. " If the author says anything, he says, 
that whoever thinks that the advocates for 
absolute power ought to be treated as common 
enemies, is obliged to quit or conceal his opin- 
ion ; a sentiment very different from the scope 
of the discourse, which, it is evident, says, that 
whoever has it for his opinion that a single 
person is entitled to absolute authority ought 
to quit or conceal that opinion, because, other- 
wise, he will, in a free state, deserve to be 
treated as a common enemy. 

There is a slight incongruity in the combina- 
tion of the words in these sentences : ' ' When 
you fall into a man's conversation, the first 
thing you should consider is." Properly, 
"fall into conversation with a man." "I 
wish, sir, you would animadvert frequently 
on the false taste the town is in, with relation 
to plays as well as operas." Properly, "the 
false taste of the town." "The presence of 
the Deity, and the care such an august cause 
is to be supposed to take about any action." 
The impropriety here is best corrected by 
substituting the w T ord being in the place of 

61 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

cause; for tho there be nothing improper in 
calling the Deity an august Cause, the author 
has very improperly connected with this ap- 
pellative some words totally unsuitable; for 
who ever heard of a cause taking care about an 
action? 

I shall produce but one other instance: 
"Neither implies that there are virtuous hab- 
its and accomplishments already attained by 
the possessor, but they certainly show an un- 
prejudiced capacity toward them." In the 
first clause of this sentence there is a gross in- 
consistency; we are informed of habits and 
accomplishments that are possest, but not 
attained. In the second clause there is a dou- 
ble impropriety: the participial adjective is 
not suited to the substantive with which it is 
construed, or is the subsequent preposition ex- 
pressive of the sense. Supposing, then, that 
the word possessor has been used inadvert- 
ently for person, or some other general term, 
the sense may be exhibited thus: "Neither 
implies that there are virtuous habits and ac- 
complishments already attained by this per- 
son ; but they certainly show that his mind is 
not prejudiced against them, and that it has 
a capacity of attaining them. ' ' 

Under this head I might consider that im- 
propriety which results from the use of meta- 
phors, or other tropes, wherein the similitude 
to the subject, or connection with it, is too 
remote; also, that which results from the 

62 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

construction of words with any trope which 
are not applicable in the literal sense. The 
former errs chiefly against vivacity, the latter 
against elegance. Of the one, therefore, I 
shall have occasion to speak when I consider 
the catachresis, of the other when I treat of 
mixed metaphor. 

I have now finished what was intended on 
the subject of grammatical purity, the first, 
and, in some respect, the most essential of all 
virtues of elocution. I have illustrated the 
three different ways in which it may be vio- 
lated : the * barbarism, when the words em- 
ployed are not English; the solecism, when 
the construction is not English; the impro- 
priety, when the meaning in which any Eng- 
lish word or phrase is used by a writer or 
speaker is not the sense which good use has 
assigned to it. 



63 



CHAPTER IV 

OF THE QUALITIES OF STYLE 
STRICTLY RHETORICAL 



65 



CHAPTER IV 

OF THE QUALITIES OF STYLE 
STRICTLY RHETORICAL 

Purity may be denominated grammatical 
truth. It consists in the conformity of 
the expression to the sentiment which 
the speaker or the writer intends to convey by 
it, as moral truth consists in the conformity 
of the sentiment intended to be conveyed, to 
the sentiment actually entertained by the 
speaker or the writer, and logical truth in the 
conformity of the sentiment to the nature of 
things. The opposite to logical truth is error; 
to moral truth, a lie; to grammatical truth, 
a blunder in language. The only standard by 
which the conformity implied in grammatical 
truth must be ascertained in any language is 
reputable, national and present use in that 
language. 

But it is with the expression as with the 
sentiment ; it is not enough to the orator that 
both be true. A sentence may be a just exhi- 
bition, according to the rules of the language, 
of the thought intended to be conveyed by it, 
and may, therefore, to a mere grammarian 
be unexceptionable, which to an orator may 
appear extremely faulty. It may, neverthe- 
less, be obscure, it may be languid, it may be 

67 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

inelegant, it may be flat, it may be unmusical. 
It is not ultimately the justness either of the 
thought or of the expression which is the aim 
of the orator ; but it is a certain effect to be 
produced in the hearers. This effect, as he 
purposes to produce in them by means of lan- 
guage, which he makes the instrument of con- 
veying his sentiments into their minds, he 
must take care in the first place that his style 
be perspicuous, that so he may be understood. 
If he would not only inform the understand- 
ing, but please the imagination, he must add 
the charms of vivacity and elegance, corre- 
sponding from the two sources from which, 
as was observed in the beginning of this work, 
the merit of an address of this kind results. 
By vivacity, resemblance is attained; by ele- 
gance, dignity of manner. The dignity of the 
subject concerns solely the thought. If he 
proposes to work on the passions, his very dic- 
tion as well as his sentiments must be ani- 
mated. Thus, language and thought, like soul 
and body, are made to correspond, and the 
qualities of the one exactly cooperate with 
those of the other. The body, besides its fit- 
ness for serving the purposes of the soul, is 
capable of one peculiar excellence as a visible 
object. The excellence I mean is beauty, 
which evidently implies more than what re- 
sults from the fitness of the several organs and 
members for answering their respective ends. 
That there is a beauty in the perceived fitness 

68 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

of means to their end and instruments to their 
use is incontrovertible. This, however, is not 
the whole that is implied in the term beauty. 
The eyes of one person may be less brilliant 
than those of another, tho equally fit for all 
the purposes of vision. The like may be said 
of all other features. Analogous to this there 
is an excellence of which language is suscept- 
ible as an audible object, distinct from its 
aptitude for conveying the sentiments of the 
orator with light and energy into the minds of 
the hearers. Now, as the music is to the ear 
what beauty is to the eye, I shall, for want of 
a more proper term, denominate this excel- 
lence in style its music, tho I acknowledge the 
word is rarely used with so great latitude. 

Thus it appears, that beside purity, which 
is a quality entirely grammatical, the five 
simple and original qualities of style, consid- 
ered as an object to the understanding, the 
imagination, the passions and the ear, are 
perspicuity, vivacity, elegance, animation and 
mime. 



69 



CHAPTER V 
OF PERSPICUITY 



71 



CHAPTER V 
OF PERSPICUITY 

Of all the qualities above mentioned the 
first and most essential is perspicuity. 
Every speaker does not propose to 
please the imagination, nor is every sub- 
ject susceptible of those ornaments which 
conduce to this purpose. Much less is it the 
aim of every speech to agitate the passions. 
There are some occasions, therefore, on which 
vivacity, and many on which animation of 
style are not necessary; nay, there are occa- 
sions on which the last especially would be im- 
proper. But whatever be the ultimate inten- 
tion of the orator, to inform, to convince, to 
please, to move, or to persuade, still he must 
speak so as to be understood, or he speaks to 
no purpose. Whether the intellect be or be 
not immediately addrest by the speaker, it 
must be regarded by him either ultimately or 
subordinately — ultimately when the direct 
purpose of the discourse is information or con- 
viction ; subordinately when the end is pleas- 
ure, emotion or persuasion. 

In a discourse wherein either vivacity or 
animation is admitted, it is not every sentence 
that requires them, but every sentence must 
be perspicuous. All other qualities of style 

73 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

are lost without this. This is to the under- 
standing what light is to the eye, and ought to 
be diffused over the whole performance, if 
language were capable of absolute perfection, 
which it evidently is not ; if words and things 
could be rendered exact counterparts to each 
other; if every different thing in nature had 
a different symbol by which it were exprest, 
and every difference in the relations of things 
had a corresponding difference in the combina- 
tions of words, purity alone would secure per- 
spicuity, or rather, these two would entirely 
coincide. To speak grammatically would, in 
that case, convey infallibly and perspicuously 
the full meaning of the speaker, if he had any 
meaning, into the mind of every hearer who 
perfectly understands the language. There 
would not be even a possibility of mistake or 
doubt. But the case is widely different with 
all the languages that ever were, are, or that 
ever will be in the world. 

Grammatical purity in every tongue con- 
duces greatly to perspicuity, but it will by no 
means secure it. A man may, in respect of it, 
speak unexceptionably, and yet speak obscure- 
ly, or ambiguously; and tho we can not say 
that a man may speak properly, and at the 
same time speak unintelligibly, yet this last 
case falls more naturally to be considered as 
an offense against perspicuity than as a viola- 
tion of propriety. When the meaning is not 
discovered the particular impropriety can not 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

be pointed out. In the three different ways 
just mentioned perspicuity may be violated. 

The Obscure from Defect 

This is the first offense against perspicuity, 
and may arise from several causes. First, from 
some defect in the expression. There are in 
all languages certain elliptical expressions, 
which use has established, and which, there- 
fore, very rarely occasion darkness. "When 
they do occasion it they ought always to be 
avoided. Such are, in Greek and Latin, the 
frequent suppression of the substantive verb 
and of the possessive pronoun ; I was going to 
add, and of the personal pronouns also, but, 
on reflection, I am sensible that in the omis- 
sion of them in the nominative there is prop- 
erly no ellipsis, as the verb by its inflection 
actually expresses them. Accordingly, in these 
languages, the pronoun in the nominative is 
never rightly introduced, unless when it is 
emphatical. But the idiom of most modern 
tongues, English and French particularly, 
will seldom admit such ellipsis. In Italian 
and Spanish they are pretty frequent. 

Often, indeed, the affectation of conciseness, 
often the rapidity of thought natural to some 
writers, will give rise to still more material 
defects in the expression. Examples: "He is 
inspired with a true sense of that function." 
Sense here implies inward feeling, and a func- 
tion can not be felt. "He is inspired with a 

75 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

true sense of the dignity of that function," is 
the expression without any defect. "You 
ought to contemn all the wit in the world 
against you." More plainly thus, "All the 
wit that can be employed against you." "A 
savage is a happier state of life than a slave 
at the oar. ' ' Neither savage nor slave can be 
denominated a state of life, tho the states in 
which they live may properly be compared. 
"This courage among the adversaries of the 
court, ' ? says the same writer in another piece, 
"was inspired into them by various incidents, 
for every one of which I think the ministers, 
or, if that was the case, the minister alone is 
to answer." If that was the case, pray what 
is he supposing to have been the case ? To the 
relative that I can find no antecedent, and am 
left to guess that he means if there was but 
one minister. 

The same evil may be occasioned by excess. 
This offends against vivacity, and produces 
darkness. We will consider it afterward. An- 
other cause of obscurity is a bad choice of 
words. When it is this which renders the sen- 
tence obscure, there is always ground for the 
charge of impropriety. 

Obscurity from Bad Arrangement 

Another source of obscurity is a bad ar- 
rangement of the w T ords. In this case the 
construction is not sufficiently clear. One 
often, on first hearing the sentence, imagines, 

76 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

from the turn of it, that it ought to be con- 
strued one way, and on reflection finds that he 
must construe it another way. Of this, which 
is a blemish too common even in the style of 
our best writers, I shall produce a few ex- 
amples : ' ' It contained, ' ' says Swift, ' ' a war- 
rant for conducting me and my retinue to 
Traldragdubb or Trildrogdrib, for it is pro- 
nounced both ways, as near as I can remem- 
ber, by a party of ten horse." The words by a 
party of ten horse must be construed with the 
participle conducting, but they are placed so 
far from this word, and so near the verb pro- 
nounced, that at first they suggest a meaning 
perfectly ludicrous. ' ' I perceived it had been 
scoured with half an eye." Did he perceive 
with half an eye? or, did half an eye scour 
it? "I have hopes that when Will confronts 
him, and all the ladies in whose behalf he en- 
gages him cast kind looks and wishes at their 
champion, he will have some chance." The 
first part of the sentence suggests that Will is 
to confront all the ladies, but afterward we 
find it necessary to construe this clause with 
the following verb. This confusion is removed 
at once by repeating the adverb when, as, 
' ' I have hopes that when Will confronts him, 
and when all the ladies cast kind looks," etc. 

Perspicuity originally and properly implies 
transparency, such as may be ascribed to air, 
glass, water, or any other ipedium through 
which material objects are viewed. Applied 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

metaphorically to language, it indicates the 
medium through which we perceive the senti- 
ments of others. If in corporeal things the 
medium be perfectly transparent, our whole 
attention is fixt on the subject, and we scarce- 
ly perceive that any medium intervenes. If 
there be any flaw in the medium, if it be dim, 
the object will be imperfectly represented; 
our attention will be taken from it and placed 
on the medium. The case of language is pre- 
cisely similar. A discourse, then, exceeds in 
perspicuity when the subjects wholly engross 
the hearer, and the diction is so little minded 
by him that he can scarcely be said to be con- 
scious that it is the medium of the speaker's 
thoughts. On the contrary, the least obscur- 
ity, ambiguity, or confusion of style instantly 
removes the attention from the sentiment to 
the expression, and the hearer endeavors, by 
the aid of reflection, to comprehend the imper- 
fections of the speaker's language. 

So much for obviating the objections which 
are frequently raised against such remarks as 
I have already made, and shall probably here- 
after make on the subject of language. The 
elements which enter into the composition of 
the hugest bodies are subtile and inconsider- 
able. The rudiments of every art and science 
exhibit at first, to a learner, the appearance 
of littleness and insignificance. And it is by 
attending to such reflections as to a super- 
ficial observer would appear minute and hy- 

78 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

percritical, that language must be improved 
and eloquence perfected. 

I return to the causes of obscurity, and 
shall only further observe, concerning the ef- 
fect of bad arrangement, that it generally 
obscures the sense, even when it does not, as 
in the preceding instances, suggest a wrong 
construction. Of this the following will suf- 
fice for an example : ' ' The young man did not 
want natural talents; but the father of him 
was a coxcomb, who affected being a fine gentle- 
man so unmercifully that he could not endure 
in his sight, or the frequent mention of one, 
who was his son, growing into manhood, and 
thrusting him out of the gay world." It is 
not easy to disentangle the construction of 
this sentence. One is at a loss at first to find 
any accusative to the active verb endure; on 
further examination it is discovered to have 
two, the words mention and one. The word 
unmercifully is vilely applied. The passage 
may be justly chargeable with solecism, impro- 
priety, obscurity and inelegance. 

Obscurity Arising from the Use of the Same 
Word in Different Senses 

This error is exemplified in the following 
quotation : ' ' That he should be in earnest it is 
hard to conceive, since any reasons of doubt 
which he might have in this case would have 
been reasons of doubt in the case of other men 
who may give more, but can not give more evi- 
ls 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

dent, signs of thought to their fellow crea- 
tures." This errs alike against perspicuity 
and elegance. The word more is first an ad- 
jective, the comparative of many; in an in- 
stant it is an adverb, and the sign of the com- 
parative degree. As the reader is not apprized 
of this, the sentence must appear to him, on 
the first glance, a flat contradiction. Perspicu- 
ously either thus: "Who may give more nu- 
merous, but can not give more evident signs," 
or thus, "Who may give more, but can not 
give clearer signs." 

It is but seldom that the same pronoun can 
be used twice or oftener in the same sentence 
in reference to different things without dark- 
ening the expression. It is necessary to ob- 
serve here that the signification of the per- 
sonal, as well as of the relative pronouns, and 
even of the adverbs of time and place, must 
be determined by the things to which they 
relate. To use them, therefore, with refer- 
ence to different things is in effect to employ 
the same word in different senses, which, when 
it occurs in the same sentence, or in sentences 
closely connected, is rarely found entirely 
compatible with perspicuity. Of this I shall 
give some examples. "One may have an air 
which proceeds from a just sufficiency and 
knowledge of the matter before him, which 
may naturally produce some motions of his 
head and body, which might become the bench 
better than the bar." The pronoun which is 

80 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

here thrice used in three several senses ; and 
it must require reflection to discover that the 
first denotes an air, the second sufficiency and 
knowledge, and the third motions of the head 
and body. Such is the use of the pronouns 
those and who in the following sentence: 
■ ' The sharks who prey upon the inadvertency 
of young heirs are more pardonable than 
those who trespass upon the good opinion of 
those who treat them upon the footing of 
choice and respect. ' ' The sentence is obscure, 
inelegant, unmusical. The like use of the pro- 
noun they in the following sentence almost 
occasions an ambiguity: "They were persons 
of such moderate intellects, even before they 
were impaired by their passion." The pro- 
noun it often repeated may create obscurity. 

From an Uncertain Reference in Pronouns 
and Relatives 

A cause of obscurity also arising from the 
use of pronouns and relatives is when it does 
not appear at first to what they refer. Of 
this fault I shall give the three following in- 
stances: " There are other examples," says 
Bolingbroke, "of the same kind, which can 
not be brought without the utmost horror, 
because in them it is supposed impiously, 
against principles as self-evident as any of 
those necessary truths, which are such of all 
knowledge, that the Supreme Being commands 
by one law what He forbids by another. ' ' It 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

is not so clear as it ought to be what is the 
antecedent to such. Another from the same 
author : ' ' The laws of Nature are truly what 
my Lord Bacon styles his aphorisms, laws of 
laws. Civil laws are always imperfect, and 
often false deductions from them, or applica- 
tions of them; nay, they stand in many in- 
stances in direct opposition to them." It is 
not quite obvious, on the first reading, that 
the pronoun them in this passage always re- 
fers to the laws of Nature, and they to civil 
laws. 

Obscurity Arising from too Artificial a Structure 
of the Sentences 

Another cause of obscurity arises from a 
sentence too much complicated, or when the 
sense is suspended by parenthesis. Some 
critics think parenthesis ought to be discarded 
as creating obscurity. This is a mistake; 
short parenthesis are perfectly justifiable. 
Others use commas in place of the hooks of the 
parenthesis, and thus fall into another error. 
This may therefore be more justly denomi- 
nated a corruption in writing than an im- 
provement. Punctuation, it will readily be 
acknowledged, is of considerable assistance to 
the reading and pronunciation. No part of 
a sentence requires to be distinguished by the 
manner of pronouncing it more than a paren- 
thesis, and consequently no part of a sentence 
ought to be more distinctly marked in the 

■pointing. 

82 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

Obscurity from Technical Terms 

Another source of darkness in composing 
is the injudicious introduction of technical 
words and phrases, as in the following pas- 
sage: 

Tack to the larboard and stand off to sea, 
Veer starboard, sea and land — 

What an absurd profusion, in an epic poem, 
too, of terms which few beside seamen under- 
stand! In strict propriety, technical words 
should not be considered as belonging to the 
language because not in current use, nor un- 
derstood by the generality even of readers. 
They are but the peculiar dialect of a particu- 
lar class. When those of that class only are 
addrest, as in treatises on the principles of 
their art, it is admitted that the use of such 
terms may be not only convenient but even 
necessary. It is allowable also in ridicule, if 
used sparingly, as in comedy and romance. 

Obscurity from Long Sentences 

Long sentences usually contain some of the 
faults already noticed. When a long sentence 
is free from obscurity it may always be re- 
marked that the principal members of the 
period are similar in their structure, and 
would constitute so many distinct sentences if 
they were united by their reference to some 
common clause in the beginning or the end. 

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THE DOUBLE MEANING 

When perspicuity is violated by the double 
meaning the sentence conveys also some other 
meaning, which is not the author's; his words 
are susceptible of more than one interpreta- 
tion. This fault arises from the use of equiv- 
ocal expressions, or by ranging the words so 
that the construction is equivocal, or exhibits 
different senses. The former we name equivo- 
cation, the latter ambiguity. 

Equivocation 

The w T ord equivocation in common language 
is synonymous with a lie. 

This offense falls under the reproof of the 
moralist, not the censure of the rhetorician. 
Again, when the word denotes, as agreeably to 
etymology it may denote, that exercise of wit 
which consists in the playful use of any term 
or phrase in different senses, and is denomi- 
nated pun, it is amenable indeed to the tri- 
bunal of criticism, but can not be regarded as 
a violation of the laws of perspicuity. It is 
neither with the liar nor with the punster that 
I am concerned at present. The only species 
of equivocation that comes under reprehen- 
sion here is that which takes place when an 
author undesignedly employs an expression 
susceptible of a sense different from the sense 
he intends to convey by it. 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

Equivocal terms should ever be avoided 
when we design to speak plain and in truth. 

To begin with particles, the preposition of 
denotes sometimes the relation which any af- 
fection bears to its subject, sometimes the re- 
lation it bears to its object. Hence this ex- 
pression of the apostle is reckoned equivocal : 
"I am perusaded that neither death nor life 
shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God." By the love of God, say interpreters, 
may be understood either God's love to us, 
or our love to God. The genitive case in the 
ancient languages, and the prepositions corre- 
sponding to that case in the modern languages, 
are alike susceptible of this double meaning. 
In our own language the preposition of is 
more commonly put before the subject, and 
to before the object of the passion. But this 
is not the only way in which the preposition 
of may be equivocal ; as it sometimes denotes 
the relation of the effect to the cause, some- 
times that of the accident to the subject ; from 
this duplicity of signification there will also, 
in certain circumstances, arise a double sense. 
You have an example in these words of Swift : 
"A little after the reformation of Luther." 
It may, indeed, be doubted whether this 
should not rather be called an impropriety, 
since the reformation of a man will suggest 
much more readily a change wrought on the 
man than a change wrought by him. And the 
former of these senses it could not more read- 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

ily suggest if the expression in that sense were 
not more conformable to use. 

My next instance shall be in the conjunc- 
tion: "They are both much more ancient 
among the Persians than Zoroaster or Zer- 
dusht. The or here is equivocal, for Zoroaster 
and Zerdusht are the names of one and the 
same person. 

The following is an example in the pro- 
nouns: "She united the great body of the 
people in her and their common interest." 
The word her may be either the possessive pro- 
noun, or the accusative case of the personal 
pronoun. A very small alteration in the order 
totally removes the doubt. Say, "in their and 
her common interest." The word her thus 
connected can be only the possessive, as the 
author doubtless intended it should be, in the 
passage quoted. 

An example in substantives: "Tour ma- 
jesty has lost all hopes of any future excises 
by their consumption." The word consump- 
tion has both an active sense and a passive. 
It means either the act of consuming or the 
state of being consumed. Clearly thus: 
"Your majesty has lost all hopes of levying 
any future excises on what they shall con- 
sume. ' ' 

In adjectives: "As for such animals as are 
mortal or noxious, we have a right to destroy 
them." The word mortal, therefore, in this 
sentence, might justly be considered as im- 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

proper, for tho it sometimes means destructive 
or causing death, it is then almost invariably 
joined with some noun expressive of hurt or 
danger. Thus we say, a mortal poison, a mor- 
tal wound; but the phrases mortal creature, 
mortal animal, or mortal man are always 
understood to imply creature, animal, or man 
liable to death. 

In verbs : * ' The next refuge was to say, it 
was overlooked by one man, and many pas- 
sages wholly written by another. ' ' The word 
overlooked means sometimes neglected, some- 
times revised. It means the latter in the sen- 
tence before us. Another instance in verbs is 
this : ' ' I have long since learned to like noth- 
ing but what you do.' 9 You like would have 
been correct. 

Ambiguity 

I come now to consider that species of 
double meaning which arises, not from the use 
of equivocal terms, but solely from the con- 
struction, and which I have therefore distin- 
guished by the name of ambiguity. This, of 
all the faults against perspicuity, is, in all 
languages, the most difficult to avoid. There 
is not one of the parts of speech which may 
not be so placed that, agreeably to the rules 
of grammar, it may be construed with differ- 
ent parts of the sentence, and by consequence 
made to exhibit different senses. Besides, a 
writer intent upon his subject is less apt to 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

advert to those imperfections in his style 
which occasion ambiguity than to any other; 
as no term or phrase he employs does of itself 
suggest the false meaning, a manner of con- 
struing his words different from that which is 
expressive of his sentiment, will not so readily 
occur to his thoughts ; and yet this erroneous 
manner of construing them may be most ob- 
vious to the reader. 

The ambiguity of pronouns is ascertained 
by the antecedent to which they refer, as, 
"Solomon, the son of David, who built the 
temple of Jerusalem, was the richest monarch 
that ever reigned over the people of God"; 
and "Solomon, the son of David, who was 
persecuted by Saul, was the richest monarch." 
In these two sentences the who is similarly 
situated; yet in the former it relates to the 
person first mentioned; in the latter, to the 
second. In such cases we ought to give 
the sentence another turn, and say, instead of 
the first, "Solomon, the son of David, and the 
builder of the temple of Jerusalem, was the 
richest monarch." The conjunction and 
makes the following w T ords relate entirely to 
Solomon, as nothing had been affirmed con- 
cerning David. It is more difficult to avoid 
the ambiguity in the other instance, without 
adopting some circumlocution that will flatten 
the expression. For the second, we might 
read, "Solomon, whose father David was per- 
secuted by Saul, was the richest. ' ' 

S8 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

The relatives who, which, that, whose, whom, 
often create ambiguity when there can be no 
doubt in regard to the antecedent. These pro- 
nouns are sometimes explicative, sometimes 
determinative; they are explicative when they 
serve merely for the illustration of the sub- 
ject; they are determinative when they limit 
the import of the antecedent; and the defi- 
nite article is of great use for discriminating 
the explicative sense from the determinative. 
Example of explicative pronouns: "Man who 
is born of woman, is of few days and full of 
trouble. ' ' " Godliness, which with content- 
ment is great gain, has the promise both of 
the present life and of the future." The 
clauses, "who is born of woman," and "which 
with great contentment is great gain," point 
to certain properties in the antecedents, but do 
not restrict their signification. For, should 
we omit these clauses altogether, we could say 
with equal truth, "Man is of few days and 
full of trouble." "Godliness has the promise 
both of the present life and of the future. ' ' 

Examples of determinative pronouns : ' ' The 
man that endureth to the end, shall be saved." 
"The remorse which issues in reformation is 
true repentance." Each of the relatives here 
confines the signification of its antecedent to 
such only as are possest of the qualification 
mentioned. For it is not affirmed of every 
man that he shall be saved, nor of all remorse 
that it is true repentance. 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

Ambiguity in the use of the pronoun his: 
"Lisias promised to his father never to aban- 
don his friends." Whose friends? His own 
or his father's? If his father's, then read, 
"Lisias, speaking of his father's friends, 
promised to his father never to abandon 
them"; or thus, Lisias gave a promise to his 
father in these words, "I will never abandon 
your friends." If his own friends, then read, 
" Lisias, speaking of his friends, promised to 
his father never to abandon them," or, "I will 
never abandon my friends." 

The pronoun he is often ambiguous. In 
such a case w r e ought always either to give 
another turn to the expression, or to use the 
noun itself, and not the pronoun, for when 
the repetition of a word is necessary it is not 
offensive, as: "We said to my Lord, the lad 
can not leave his father, for if he should leave 
his father, his father should die." The words 
his father are in this short verse thrice repeat- 
ed, and yet are not disagreeable, as they con- 
tribute to perspicuity. Had the last part of 
the sentence run thus: "If he should leave 
his father, he * would die,' " it would not have 
appeared from the expression whether it was 
the child or the parent that would die. 

There is in adjectives a great risk of am- 
biguity when they are not joined to the sub- 
stantives to which they belong. This arises 
from our adjectives being without gender, 
number, and declension. Their relation, there- 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

fore, for the most part, is not otherwise to be 
ascertained but by their place. The following 
sentence will serve for an example: "God 
heapeth favors on His servants ever liberal 
and faithful. " Is it God or His servants that 
are liberal and faithful? If the former, say 
"God, ever liberal and faithful, heapeth fa- 
vors on His servants." If the latter, say, 
either ' ' God heapeth favors on His ever liberal 
and faithful servants," or "His servants, who 
are ever liberal and faithful." There is an- 
other frequent cause of ambiguity in the use 
of adjectives which has been, as yet, in our 
language, very little attended to. Two or 
more are sometimes made to refer to the same 
substantive, when, in fact, they do not belong 
to the same thing, but to different things, 
which being of the same kind, are exprest by 
the same generic name. I explain myself by 
an example: "Both the ecclesiastic and secu- 
lar powers concurred in those measures." 
Here the two adjectives, ecclesiastic and secu- 
lar, relate to the same individual things, 
for the powers, denominated ecclesiastic, are 
totally different from those denominated secu- 
lar. Indeed, the reader's perfect knowledge 
of the difference may prevent his attending 
to this ambiguity, or rather impropriety of 
speech. This mode of expression ought to be 
avoided. "Both the ecclesiastical powers and 
the secular concurred in those measures," is 
a preferable mode of expression. ' ' The Lords 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

spiritual and temporal in parliament assem- 
bled" is ungrammatical, but use has estab- 
lished it as correct. 

The squinting construction is, when a clause 
is so situated in a sentence that we are at a 
loss to ascertain whether it be connected with 
the words which precede or follow it. Thus, 
1 'As it is necessary to have the head clear as 
well as the complexion, to be perfect in this 
part of learning, I rarely mingle with the 
men, but frequent the tea-tables of the ladies. ' ' 
Whether "to be perfect in this part of learn- 
ing it is necessary to have the head clear as 
well as the complexion"; or, "to be perfect 
in this part of learning, does he rarely mingle 
with the men, but frequent the tea-tables of 
the ladies?" Whichever of these be the sense, 
the words ought to have been otherwise ranged. 

THE UNINTELLIGIBLE 

I come now to make some remarks on the 
third and last offense, mentioned in the enu- 
meration formerly given. It was observed 
that a speaker may not only express himself 
obscurely, and so convey his meaning imper- 
fectly to the mind of the hearer, that he may 
not only express himself ambiguously, and so 
along with his own, convey a meaning entirely 
different; but even express himself unintelli- 
gibly, and so convey no meaning at all. One 
would, indeed, think it hardly possible that a 
man of sense, who perfectly understands the 

92 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

language which he uses, should ever speak or 
write in such a manner as to be altogether 
unintelligible. Yet this is what frequently 
happens. The cause of this fault in any writer 
I take to be always one or other of the three 
following: First, great confusion of thought, 
which is commonly accompanied with intri- 
cacy of expression; secondly, affectation of 
excellence in the diction ; thirdly, a total want 
of meaning. I do not mention as one of the 
causes of this imputation a penury of lan- 
guage, tho this, doubtless, may contribute to 
produce it. In fact, I never found one who 
had a justness of apprehension, and was free 
from affectation, at a loss to make himself 
understood in his native tongue, even tho he 
had little command of language and made but 
a bad choice of words. 

Unintelligible from Confusion of Thought 

This arises from half-formed thoughts, from 
the writer's confused perception of the senti- 
ments he would communicate. In all this 
wide field of obscure and indistinct composi- 
tion we have to divine what the author would 
say, rather than to understand what he does 
say. If a discovery of the sense be made, that 
it is made ought rather to be ascribed to the 
sagacity of the reader than to the clearness of 
the writer. This species of the unintelligible 
(which, by the way, differs not in kind, but 
in degree, from the obscurity already consid- 
ered, being no other than that bad quality in 

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# 

the extreme) I shall exemplify first in simple, 

and afterward in complex sentences. 

First, in a simple sentence: "I have ob- 
served," says Sir Richard Steele, who, tho a 
man of sense and genius, was a great master 
in this style, "that the superiority among 
these," — he is speaking of some coffee-house 
politicians — "proceeds from an opinion of 
gallantry and fashion." This sentence, con- 
sidered in itself, evidently conveys no mean- 
ing. First, it is not said whose opinion, their 
own, or that of others ; secondly, it is not said 
what opinion, or of what sort, favorable or 
unfavorable, true or false, but in general an 
opinion of gallantry and fashion, which con- 
tains no definite expression of any meaning. 
With the joint assistance of the context, re- 
flection, and conjecture, we shall perhaps con- 
clude that the author intended to say, "that 
the rank among these politicians was deter- 
mined by the opinion generally entertained 
of the rank in point of gallantry and fashion 
that each of them had attained." 

Example of a complex sentence from the 
same hand "I must confess we live in an age 
wherein a few empty blusterers carry away 
the praise of speaking, while a crowd of fel- 
lows, overstocked with knowledge, are run 
down by them. I say overstocked, because 
they certainly are so, as to their service of 
mankind, if from their very store they raise 
to themselves ideas of respect and greatness of 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the occasion, and I know not what, to disable 
themselves from explaining their thoughts." 

From Affectation of Excellence 

In this there is always something figurative ; 
but the figures are remote, and things hetero- 
geneous are combined. I shall exemplify this 
sort also, first, in a few more simple sentences, 
and then in such as are more complex. Of the 
former, take the following instances: "Th^s 
temper of soul," says the Guardian, speaking 
of meekness and humility, " keeps our under- 
standing tight about us." Whether the au- 
thor had any meaning in this expression, or 
what it was, I shall not take upon me to deter- 
mine ; but hardly could anything more incon- 
gruous in the way of metaphor have been 
imagined. The understanding is made a 
girdle to our other mental faculties, for the 
fastening of which girdle, meekness and hu- 
mility serve for a buckle. "A man is not 
qualified for a butt, who has not a good deal 
of wit and vivacity, even in the ridiculous 
side of his character." It is only the addi- 
tional clause in the end that is here exception- 
able. What a strange jumble! A man's wit 
and vivacity placed in the side of his char- 
acter. Sometimes in a sentence sufficiently 
perspicuous we shall find an unintelligible 
clause inserted, as, "I seldom see a noble 
building, or any great piece of magnificence 
and pomp, but I think, how little is all this to 

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satisfy the ambition or to fill the idea of an 
immortal soul. ' ' To fill the idea has no mean- 
ing. In the sake of vanity take a poetical 
example from Dryden, who thus sings of the 
Deluge : 

"Yet when that flood in its own depths was 

drown 'd, 
It left behind it false and slippery ground. " 

The first line is nonsense, the second bom- 
bast. A flood drown itself! Examples in 
sentences more complicated form the charac- 
teristics : ' ' If the savor of things lies cross to 
honesty, if the fancy be florid, and the appe- 
tite high toward the subaltern beauties and 
lower order of worldy symmetries and pro- 
portions, the conduct will infallibly turn this 
latter way." This is that figure of speech 
which the French critics call galimatias, and 
the English comprehend under the general 
name bombast, and which may not improperly 
be defined the sublime of nonsense. You have 
lofty images and high-sounding words, but 
are always at a loss to find the sense. The 
meaning, where there is a meaning, can not be 
said to be communicated and adorned by the 
words, but is rather buried under them. 

The Unintelligible from Want of Meaning 

Instances of this kind are plentiful in the 
best authors. The unintelligible we last con- 
sidered was accompanied with intricacy of 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

expression. The reader is bewildered, and 
construes the sentence to ascertain the au- 
thor's signification. In this, which proceeds 
from a vacuity of thought, the sentence is 
simple in its structure and the construction 
easy. We only detect the want of meaning by 
a second reading when we find the author uses 
identical propositions w T hich convey no know-l- 
edge, or a proposition of that kind, of which 
one can not so much as affirm that it is either 
true or false. And this is justly allowed to 
be the best criterion of nonsense. It is, in- 
deed, more difficult to distinguish sentences 
of this kind from those of the second class of 
the unintelligible already discust, in which 
the darkness is chiefly imputable to an affecta- 
tion of excellence. But in these matters it is 
not of importance to fix the boundaries with 
precision. Sometimes pompous metaphors 
and sonorous phrases are injudiciously em- 
ployed to add a dignity to the most trivial 
conceptions ; sometimes they are made to serve 
as a vehicle for nonsense. And whether some 
of the above citations fall under the one de- 
nomination or the other would scarcely be 
worth while to inquire. It has been observed 
that in madmen there is as great a variety of 
character as in those who enjoy the use of 
their reason. In like manner, it may be said of 
nonsense, that in writing it there is as great 
scope for variety of style as there is in writing 
sense. Specimens of this kind are innumer- 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

able. Some of the principal are, the Puerile, 
the Learned, the Profound, and the Mar- 
velous. 

1. The Puerile is always produced when 
an author runs on in. a specious verbosity, 
amusing his reader with synonymous terms 
and identical propositions, well turned peri- 
ods and high-sounding words, to which we 
may affix any meaning we please ; but which, 
in fact, are without meaning. In writings of 
this sort we must accept sound for sense, as: 

From harmony, from heavenly harmony 

This universal frame began; 

Prom harmony to harmony 
Thro' all the compass of the notes it ran, 
The diapason closing full in man. 

wherein nothing offends the ear or informs the 
judgment. 

2. The Learned is found chiefly in scholas- 
tical theology, where the declaimer talks plaus- 
ibly amid the incomprehensibility of his sub- 
ject. This pulpit jargon perplexes the hear- 
ers, confounds their understanding, and cre- 
ates doubt and skepticism. Of the same kind 
of school-metaphysics are these lines of Cow- 
ley: 

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past . . 
But an eternal now does always last. 

What an insatiable appetite has this bas- 
tard philosophy for absurdity and contradic- 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

tion! A now that lasts — that is, an instant 
which continues during successive instants; 
an eternal now, an instant that is no instant, 
and an eternity that is no eternity. 

But tho the scholastic theology be the prin- 
cipal, it is not the only subject of learned non- 
sense. In other branches of pneumatology 
we often meet with rhapsodies of the same 
kind. 

3. The Profound is most commonly to be 
met with in political writings, nowhere else 
do we find the meanest things set off with an 
air of solemnity as the result of very deep 
thought and sage reflection. The only speci- 
men we offer shall be taken from a justly 
celebrated tract, of a justly celebrated pen: 
" 'Tis agreed," says Swift, "that in all gov- 
ernments there is an absolute and unlimited 
power, which naturally and originally seems 
to be placed in the whole body, wherever the 
executive part of it lies. This holds in the 
body natural, for wherever we place the begin- 
ning of motion, whether from the head, or the 
heart, or the animal spirits in general, the 
body moves and acts by a consent of all its 
parts." The first sentence of this passage 
contains one of the most hacknied maxims of 
the writers on politics — a maxim, however, of 
which it will be more difficult than is com- 
monly imagined, to discover, I say, not the 
justness, but the sense. The illustration from 
the natural body, contained in the second sen- 

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tence, is indeed more glaringly nonsensical. 
What it is that constitutes this consent of all 
the parts of the body which must be obtained 
previously to every motion is, I will take upon 
me to affirm, utterly inconceivable. Yet the 
whole of the paragraph from which this quota- 
tion is taken has such a speciousness in it that 
it is a hundred to one even a judicious reader 
will not, on the first perusal, be sensible of the 
defect. 

4. The Marvelous astonishes and even con- 
founds by the boldness of its affirmations, 
which always appear flatly to contradict the 
plainest dictates of common sense, and thus to 
involve a manifest absurdity. It may be 
doubted whether in prose or verse this kind 
of composition most abounds. Witness the 
famous protestation of an heroic lover in one 
of Dry den's plays: 

My wound is great, because it is so small. 

The nonsense of which was properly exposed 
by an extemporary verse of the Duke of Buck- 
ingham, who, on hearing this line, exclaimed, 
in the house : 

It would be greater, were it none at all. 

Hyperbole, carried to extravagance, is much 
of a piece, and never fails to excite disgust, 
if not laughter, instead of admiration. Of 
this the famous laureate just quoted, tho in- 
deed a very considerable genius, affords, 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

among many other striking instances, that 
which follows : 

That star, that at your birth shone out so bright; 
It stain ; d the duller sun's meridian light. 

Such vile fustian ought to be carefully avoided 
by every writer. 

Thus I have illustrated, as far as example 
can illustrate, some of the principal varieties 
to be remarked in unmeaning sentences or 
nonsense — the puerile, the learned, the pro- 
found, and the marvelous ; together with those 
other classes of the unintelligible, arising 
either from confusion of thought, accompa- 
nied with intricacy of expression, or from an 
excessive aim at excellence in the style and 
manner. 

So much for the explication of the first rhe- 
torical quality of style, perspicuity, with the 
three ways of expressing one's self by which 
it may be injured; the obscure, the double 
meaning, and the unintelligible. 



101 



CHAPTER VI 

WHY IS IT THAT NONSENSE SO 
OFTEN ESCAPES BEING DE- 
TECTED, BOTH BY THE WRITER 
AND BY THE READER? 



103 



CHAPTER VI 

WHY IS IT THAT NONSENSE SO 
OFTEN ESCAPES BEING DE- 
TECTED, BOTH BY THE WRITER 
AND BY THE READER? 

THE NATURE AND POWER OF SIGNS, 

BOTH IN SPEAKING AND IN 

THINKING 

Before quitting the subject of perspicuity 
it will not be amiss to inquire into the 
cause of this strange phenomenon — 
that even a man of discernment should write 
without meaning, and not be sensible that he 
has no meaning; and that judicious people 
should read what has been written in this way 
and not discover the defect. Both are surpri- 
zing, but the first much more than the last. A 
certain remissness will at times seize the most 
attentive reader; whereas an author of dis- 
cernment is supposed to have carefully di- 
gested all that he writes. It is reported of 
Lopez de Vega, a famous Spanish poet, that 
the Bishop of Beller, being in Spain, asked 
him to explain one of his sonnets, which, he 
said, he had often read but never understood. 
Lopez took up the sonnet, and after reading it 
several times, frankly acknowledged that he 
did not understand it himself, a discovery 
which the poet probably never made before. 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

If we could understand nothing that is said, 
but by actually comparing in our minds all 
the ideas signified, it would be impossible that 
nonsense should ever escape undiscovered — at 
least, that we should so far impose upon our- 
selves as to think we understand what in 
reality is not to be understood. We should 
in that case find ourselves in the same situa- 
tion, when an unmeaning sentence is intro- 
duced into a discourse, wherein we find our- 
selves when a sentence is quoted in a language 
of which we are entirely ignorant: we are 
never in the smallest danger of imagining that 
we apprehend the meaning of the quotation. 

But tho a very curious fact has been taken 
notice of by those expert metaphysicians, and 
such a fact as will perhaps account for the de- 
ception we are now considering; yet the fact 
itself, in my apprehension, has not been suffi- 
ciently accounted for. That mere sounds, 
which are used only as signs, and have no 
natural connection with the things whereof 
they are signs, should convey knowledge to the 
mind, even when they excite no idea of the 
things signified, must appear at first extreme- 
ly mysterious. In order, therefore, to consider 
the matter more closely, it will be proper to 
show the three following connections: First, 
that which subsists among things; secondly, 
that which subsists between words and things ; 
thirdly, that which subsists among words, or 
the different terms used in the same language. 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

The first of these connections is original and 
natural, as resemblance, equality, contrariety, 
cause and effect, concomitancy, vicinity in 
time and place, which are severally connected 
with other relations, by association and ab- 
straction. 

As to the second connection between words 
and things, it is artificial and arbitrary, hav- 
ing its foundation in the conventions of man. 
Hence certain sounds, and the ideas of things 
not naturally related to them, come to be as 
strongly linked in our conceptions as the ideas 
of things naturally related to one another. 

By the third connection, or that which sub- 
sists among words, I mean solely that connec- 
tion of relation which come gradually to sub- 
sist among the different words of a language 
in the minds of those who speak it, and which 
is merely consequent on this, that those words 
are employed as signs of connected or related 
things. It is an axiom in geometry, that 
things equal to the same thing are equal to 
one another. In like manner, ideas associated 
by the same idea will associate with one an- 
other. There will likewise be an association 
between the ideas of the signs, as each idea is 
associated by its own proper sign. Hence the 
sounds considered as signs will be conceived to 
have a connection analogous to that which sub- 
sists among the things signified ; for this way 
of considering them constantly attends us in 
speaking, writing, hearing, and reading. 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

p ■ »— — ■— — — — — — ■ i ■ 

Now this conception, habit, or tendency of 
the mind, call it which you please, is consider- 
ably strengthened both by the frequent use of 
language, and by the structure of it. It is 
strengthened by the frequent use of language. 
Language is the sole channel through which 
we communicate our knowledge and discover- 
ies to others, and through which the knowl- 
edge and discoveries of others are communi- 
cated to us. By reiterated recourse to this 
medium it necessarily happens that when 
things are related to each other, the words 
signifying those things are more commonly 
brought together in discourse. Hence the 
words and names themselves, by customary 
vicinity, contract in the fancy a relation addi- 
tional to that which they derive purely from 
being the symbols of related things. Fur- 
ther, this tendency is strengthened by the 
structure of language. All languages what- 
ever, even the most barbarous, as far as 
has yet appeared, are of a regular and ana- 
logical make. The consequence is, that similar 
relations in things will be exprest similarly 
— that is, by similar inflections, derivations, 
compositions, arrangement of words, or juxta- 
position of particles, according to the genius 
or grammatical form of the particular tongue. 
Now, as by the habitual use of a language 
(even tho it were quite irregular) the signs 
would insensibly become connected in the 
imagination wherever the things signified are 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

connected in nature ; so, by the regular struc- 
ture of a language, this connection among the 
signs is conceived as analogous to that which 
subsisted among their archetypes. From these 
principles we may be enabled both to under- 
stand the meaning and to perceive the justness 
of what is affirmed in the end of the preceding 
quotation: "The custom which we have ac- 
quired of attributing certain relations to ideas, 
still follows the words, and makes us imme- 
diately perceive the absurdity of that propo- 
sition. ' ' Immediately , that is, even before we 
have leisure to give that attention to the signs 
which is necessary in order to form a just 
conception of the things signified. In con- 
firmation of this doctrine it may be observed 
that we really think by signs as well as speak 
by them. 

The Application of the Preceding Principles 

Let us now consider how we can account, 
by this doctrine, for this phenomena, that a 
man of sense should sometimes write nonsense 
and not know it, and that a man of sense 
should sometimes read nonsense and imagine 
he understands it, in matters that are perfect- 
ly familiar, and are level to an ordinary ca- 
pacity, in simple narration or in moral ob- 
servations on the occurrences of life ; a man 
of common understanding may be deceived by 
specious falsehood, but is hardly to be gulled 
by downright nonsense. There are particu- 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

larly three sorts of writing in which we are 
liable to be imposed on by words without 
meaning. 

First, where there is an exuberance of meta- 
phor. This trope, when temperately and ap- 
propriately used, adds light to the expression 
and energy to the sentiment. When vaguely 
and intemperately used it clouds the sense, 
where there is sense, and by consequence to 
conceal the defect, where there is no sense to 
show. Most readers will account it much to 
bestow a transient glance on the literal sense, 
which lies nearest; but will never think of 
that meaning more remote, which the figures 
themselves are intended to signify. It is no 
wonder, then, that this sense, for the dis- 
covery of which it is necessary to see through 
a double veil, should, where it is, more readily 
escape our observation, and that where it is 
wanting we should not so quickly miss it. 

There is, in respect of the two meanings, 
considerable variety to be found in the tropi- 
cal style. In just allegory and similitude 
there is always a propriety, or, if you choose 
to call it, congruity in the literal sense, as well 
as a distinct meaning or sentiment suggested, 
which is called the figurative sense. Exam- 
ples of this are unnecessary. Again, where 
the figurative sense is unexceptionable, there 
is sometimes an incongruity in the expression 
of the literal sense. This is always the case 
in mixed metaphor, a thing not unfrequent 

110 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

even in good writers. Thus, when Addison 
remarks that "There is not a single view of 
human nature which is not sufficient to ex- 
tinguish the seeds of pride," he expresses a 
true sentiment somewhat incongruously; for 
the terms extinguish and seeds here meta- 
phorically used do not suit each other. In 
like manner, there is something incongruous 
in the mixture of tropes employed in the fol- 
lowing passage from Lord Bolingbroke: 
"Nothing less than the hearts of his people 
will content a patriot prince, nor will he 
think his throne established till it is estab- 
lished there." Yet the thought is excellent. 
But in neither of these examples does the in- 
congruity of the expression hurt the perspi- 
cuity of the sentence. Sometimes, indeed, the 
literal meaning involves a direct absurdity. 
Absurdity and falsehood thus differ : An ab- 
surdity is a proposition either intuitively or 
demonstratively false, as "that three and two 
make seven." "All the angles of a triangle 
are greater than two right angles. ' ' That the 
former is false we know by intuition; that 
the latter is so, we are able to demonstrate. 
Again, if a person should say, "At the vernal 
equinox the sun rises in the north and sets in 
the south, ' ' we should not hesitate to say that 
he advances an absurdity; but still what he 
affirms has a meaning, insomuch that on hear- 
ing the sentence we pronounce its falsity. 
Now nonsense is that whereof we can not say 

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either that it is true or that it is false. Thus, 
when the Teutonic theosopher announces that 
"all the voices of the celestial joy fulness qual- 
ify, commix and harmonize in the fire which 
was from eternity in the good quality," I 
should think it equally impertinent to aver 
the falsity as the truth of this enunciation. 
For, tho the words grammatically form a 
sentence, they exhibit to the understanding 
no judgment, and consequently admit neither 
assent nor dissent. In the former instances 
I say the meaning, or what they affirm, is 
absurd ; in the last instance, I say there is no 
meaning, and therefore properly nothing is 
affirmed. In popular language, I own, the 
terms absurdity and nonsense are not so ac- 
curately distinguished. Absurd positions are 
sometimes called nonsensical. It is not com- 
mon, on the other hand, to say of downright 
nonsense that it comprizes an absurdity. 

The second species of writing in which we 
are liable to be imposed on by words without 
meaning is that wherein the terms most fre- 
quently occurring denote things which are of 
a complicated nature, and to which the mind 
is not sufficiently familiarized. 

The third and last, and I may add the prin- 
cipal species of composition, wherein we are 
exposed to this illusion by the abuse of words, 
is that in which the terms employed are very 
abstract, and consequently of very extensive 
signification. It is an observation that plainly 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

ariseth from the nature and structure of lan- 
guage, and may be deduced as a corollary 
from what has been said of the use of arti- 
ficial signs, that the more general any name is, 
as it comprehends the more individuals under 
it, and consequently requires the more ex- 
tensive knowledge in the mind that would 
rightly apprehend it, the more it must have 
of indistinctness and obscurity. Thus, the 
word lion is more distinctly apprehended by 
the mind than the word beast, beast than ani- 
mal, animal than being. But there is, in what 
are called abstract subjects, a still greater 
fund of obscurity than that arising from the 
frequent mention of the most general terms. 
Names must be assigned to those qualities as 
considered abstractly which never subsist in- 
dependently, or by themselves, but which con- 
stitute the generic characters and the specific 
differences of things. And this leads to a 
manner which is in many instances remote 
from the common use of speech, and there- 
fore must be of more difficult conception. 
The qualities thus considered as in a state of 
separation from the subjects to which they 
belong, have been not unfitly compared by a 
famous wit of the last century to disembodied 
spirits : 

He could reduce all things to acts, 
And knew their natures and abstracts; 
Where entity and quiddity 
The ghost of defunct bodies fly. 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

As the names of the departed heroes which 
JEine&s saw in the infernal regions were so 
constituted as effectually to elude the embrace 
of every living wight; in like manner the 
abstract qualities are so subtile as often to 
elude the apprehension of the most attentive 
mind. They have, I may say, too much vola- 
tility to be arrested, were it but for a moment 

The flitting shadow slips away, 
Like winds or empty dreams that fly the day. 

— Dryden. 

It is no wonder, then, that a misapplication 
of such words escapes notice. The more 
general any word is in its signification, the 
more liable it is to be abused by an improper 
or unmeaning application. A foreigner will 
escape discovery in a crowd, who would 
instantly be distinguished in a select com- 
pany. A very general term is applicable alike 
to a multitude of different individuals; a par- 
ticular term is applicable but to a few. Thus, 
the latitude of a word, tho different from its 
ambiguity, has often a similar effect. And 
hence it is, when we are accustomed to par- 
ticular terms, we fancy we understand them 
whether they have meaning or not. 

So much for the third and last cause of illu- 
sion that was taken notice of, arising from the 
abuse of very general and abstract terms, 
which is the principal source of all the non- 
sense that has been vented by metaphysicians, 
mystagogs, and theologians. 

114 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EXTENSIVE USE OF PER- 
SPICUITY 



115 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EXTENSIVE USE OF PER- 
SPICUITY 

WHEN IS PERSPICUITY APPOSITE, IF 

EVER IT BE APPOSITE, AND 

WHAT KIND? 

Having considered fully the nature of 
perspicuity, and the various ways 
in which its laws may be transgrest, 
I shall now inquire whether to be able to 
transgress with dexterity in any of those ways 
by speaking obscurely, ambiguously, or unin- 
telligibly, be not as essential to the perfection 
of eloquence as to be able to speak perspicu- 
ously. 

Eloquence is the art whereby discourse is 
adapted to produce the effect which the speak- 
er intends it should produce in the hearer. 
May not then obscurity on some occasions be 
as conducive to the effect intended as perspi- 
cuity is on the other occasions ? If perspicuity 
be necessary to inform, obscurity may be nec- 
essary to deceive and persuade us to do 
wrong. But this way of arguing is more 
plausible than just; and tho obscurity may 
on some occasions contribute to the design 

117 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

of the orator, it is never essential to eloquence. 
As well might the speaker talk in an unknown 
tongue. 

The natural place for sophistry is, when a 
speaker finds himself obliged to attempt the 
refutation of arguments that are both clear 
and convincing. For an answer to overlook 
such arguments altogether might be danger- 
ous, and to treat them in such a manner as to 
elude their force requires the most exquisite 
address. A little sophistry here will, no doubt, 
be thought necessary by one with whom vic- 
tory has more charms than truth; and sophis- 
try always implies obscurity ; for that a soph- 
ism should be mistaken for an argument can 
be imputed only to this, that it is not rightly 
understood. 

Mystical theology may be benefited by non- 
sense, as its supposed sublimity serves with its 
votaries to apologize for its darkness, but this 
case is particular. But the sophistical and 
unmeaning are never capable of rivalling con- 
clusive arguments perspicuously exprest. 

The effect of the former is at most only to 
confound the judgment, and by the confusion 
it produceth to silence contradiction; the 
effect of the latter is fully to convince the 
understanding. The impression made by the 
first can no more be compared in distinctness 
and vivacity to that effected by the second 
than the dreams of a person asleep to his per- 
ceptions when awake. Hence we may perceive 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

an eminent disadvantage which the advocate 
for error, when compelled to recur to words 
without meaning, must labor under. The 
weapons he is obliged to use are of such a 
nature that there is much greater difficulty in 
managing them than in managing those that 
must be employed in the cause of truth, and 
when managed ever so dexterously they can 
not do equal execution. A still greater dis- 
advantage the patron of the cause of injustice 
or of vice must grapple with. For tho he may 
find real motives to urge in defense of his plea, 
as wealth, perhaps, or ease, or pleasure, he has 
to encounter or elude the moral sentiments 
which, of all motives whatever, take the strong- 
est hold of the heart. And if he find himself 
under a necessity of attempting to prove that 
virtue and right are on his side, he hath his 
way to grope through a labyrinth of sophistry 
and nonsense. 

So much for the legitimate use of the un- 
intelligible in oratory. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED 

Are there not some kinds of composition 
which, from their very nature, may demand 
a dash of obscurity ? Do not decency and deli- 
cacy often require this ? Is it not essential to 
allegorical and enigmatical styles? 

Delicacy may require that sentiments be 
insinuated rather than exprest, and on this 
account they may be said to be obscurely 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

exprest. But it is the thought and not the 
expression in the case of which I am treating 
that veils the sentiment suggested. This ob- 
scurity is totally distinct from obscurity of 
language. 

No subject requires to be treated more deli- 
cately than praise, especially when it is given 
to a person present. Flattery is so nauseous 
to a liberal spirit that, even when praise is 
merited, it is disagreeable at least to uncon- 
cerned hearers, if it appear in a garb which 
adulation commonly assumes. For this rea- 
son an encomium or compliment never suc- 
ceeds so well as when it is indirect. It then 
appears to escape the speaker unawares, at the 
same time seems to have no intention to com- 
mend. 

Praise is sometimes conveyed under an ap- 
pearance of chagrin, or an air of reproach, or 
by seeming to invert the course of the obliga- 
tion, and to represent the person obliging as 
the person obliged. 

It may be observed that delicacy requires 
indirectness of manner no less in censure than 
in praise. If the one, when open and direct, is 
liable to be branded with the name of flattery, 
the other is no less exposed to the opprobrious 
appellation of abuse, both alike, tho in differ- 
ent ways, offensive to persons of taste and 
breeding. 

In allegories, apologs, parables and enigmas 
there are two senses plainly intended — the lit- 

120 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

eral and the figurative : the language is solely 
the sign of the literal sense, and the literal 
sense is the sign of the figurative. Perspicuity 
in the style, which exhibits only the literal 
sense, is so far from being to be dispensed with 
here that it is even more requisite in this kind 
of composition than in any other. Accord- 
ingly, you will perhaps nowhere find more 
perfect models both of simplicity and of per- 
spicuity of style than in the parables of the 
Gospel. Indeed, in every sort of composition 
of a figurative character more attention is 
always and justly considered as due to this 
circumstance than in any other sort of wri- 
ting. iEsop's fables are a noted example of 
this remark. In further confirmation of it, 
we may observe that no pieces are commonly 
translated with greater ease and exactness 
than the allegorical, and that even by those 
who apprehend nothing of the mystical sense. 
This surely could never be the case if the 
obscurity were chargeable on the language. 

Dramatic composition may sometimes be 
benefited by a little obscurity. Incoherent 
hints, precipitate sallies, vehement exclama- 
tions — in short, everything imperfect, abrupt 
and desultory are the natural expressions of 
this species of moral painting, in which the 
mind is confused amid the feeble checks of 
religion and philosophy. But even here it 
may be said with truth, that to one skilled in 
reading Nature there will arise a light out of 

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the darkness which will enable him to pene- 
trate farther into the spirit than he could 
have done by the help of the most just, most 
perspicuous, and most elaborate description. 
This might be illustrated, were it necessary; 
but a case so singular is hardly called an ex- 
ception. The dramatist, then, can but rarely 
claim to be indulged in obscurity of language ; 
the fabulist never. 



122 



CHAPTER VIII 

MAY THERE NOT BE AN EXCESS 
OF PERSPICUITY? 



123 



CHAPTER VIII 

MAY THERE NOT BE AN EXCESS 
OF PERSPICUITY? 

1 shall conclude this subject with inquiring 
whether it be possible that perspicuity 
should be carried to excess? Too much 
of it has a tendency to cloy the reader, and, 
as it gives no play to the rational and active 
powers of the mind, will therefore soon grow 
irksome through excess of facility. In this 
manner some able critics have exprest them- 
selves on this point who will be found not to 
differ in sentiment, but only in expression, 
from the principles above laid down. 

The objection arises manifestly from the 
confounding of two objects, the common and 
the clear, and thence very naturally their con- 
traries, the new and the dark, are widely dif- 
ferent. 

If you entertain your reader solely or chief- 
ly wth thoughts that are either trite or obvi- 
ous, you can not fail soon to tire him. All 
trifling minuteness in narration, description, 
or instruction, which an ordinary apprehen- 
sion would render superfluous, is apt to dis- 
gust us, because many things are said which 
ought not to be said. It is therefore futility 
in the thought and not perspicuity in the lan- 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

guage which is the fault of such performances. 
There is as little hazard that a piece shall be 
faulty in this respect as that a mirror shall 
be too faithful in reflecting the images of 
objects, or that the glasses of a telescope shall 
be too transparent. 

At the same time, it is not to be dissembled 
that with inattentive readers, a pretty numer- 
ous class, darkness frequently passes for 
depth. To be perspicuous, on the contrary, 
and to be superficial are regarded by them as 
synonymous. But it is not surely to their 
absurd notions that our language ought to be 
adapted. 

It is proper, however, before I dismiss this 
subject to observe that every kind of style 
doth not admit an equal degree of perspicuity. 
In the ode, for instance, it is difficult, some- 
times perhaps impossible, to reconcile the ut- 
most perspicuity with that force and vivacity 
which the species of composition requires. 
But even in this case, tho we may justly say 
that the genius of the performance renders 
obscurity to a certain degree excusable, noth- 
ing can ever constitute it an excellence. Nay, 
it may still be affirmed with truth that the 
more a writer can reconcile this quality of 
perspicuity with that which is the distin- 
guishing excellence of the species of composi- 
tion, his success will be the greater. 



126 



CHAPTER IX 

OF VIVACITY AS DEPENDING ON 
THE CHOICE OF WORDS 



127 



CHAPTER IX 

OF VIVACITY AS DEPENDING ON 
THE CHOICE OF WORDS 

We now come to the qualities of style 
by which it is adapted to please the 
imagination, and consequently to 
awaken and fix the attention. The merit of 
any address to the fancy rests upon vivacity 
and elegance. By vivacity of expression re- 
semblance is attained, as far as language can 
contribute to the attainment ; dignity of man- 
ner, by elegance. 

I begin with vivacity, whose nature (tho 
perhaps the word is rarely used in a significa- 
tion so extensive) will be best understood by 
considering the several principles from which 
it arises. There are three things in style on 
which its vivacity depends, the choice of 
words, their number, and their arrangement. 

The first thing, then, that comes to be ex- 
amined is the words chosen. Words are either 
proper terms or rhetorical tropes ; and whether 
the one or the other, they may be regarded not 
only as signs, but as sounds, and consequently 
as capable, in certain cases, of bearing in 
some degree a natural resemblance or affinity 
to the things signified. These three articles, 
therefore, proper terms, rhetorical tropes, and 

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the relation which the sound may be made to 
bear to the sense, I shall consider severally, as 
far as concerns the subject of vivacity, begin- 
ning with the first topic, the choice of words. 

PROPER TERMS 

I begin with proper terms, and observe that 
the quality of chief importance in these for 
producing the end proposed is their specialty. 
Nothing can contribute more to enliven the 
expression than that all the words employed 
be as particular and determinate in their sig- 
nification as will suit with the nature and the 
scope of the discourse. The more special the 
terms are the brighter is the picture. Thus, 
' ' they sank as lead in the mighty waters" is 
more emphatic than, "they fell as metal." 
To sink is peculiar to a liquid element. ' ' Con- 
sider the lilies how they grow," is brief, 
sprightly and elegant ; the words of the mod- 
ern paraphrast tasteless, spiritless, and in- 
elegant. "Consider the flowers, how they 
gradually increase in their size." The most 
rigid philosopher, if he choose that his dis- 
quisitions be not only understood but relished 
(and without being relished they are under- 
stood to little purpose), will not disdain some- 
times to apply to the imagination of his dis- 
ciples, mixing the pleasant with the useful. 
This is one way of sacrificing to the Graces. 

But I proceed to give examples in such of 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the different parts of speech as are most sus- 
ceptible of this beauty. The first shall be in 
the verbs : 

It seem'd as there the British Neptune stood, 
With all his hosts of waters at command, 

Beneath them to submit th' officious flood; 
And with his trident shov'd them off the sand. 

The words submit and shov'd are particu- 
larly expressive of the action here ascribed to 
Neptune; indeed, the verb raised would not 
be equivalent to shov'd, for it would alter the 
meaning. 

Examples in adjectives and particles : 

The kiss snatch 'd hasty from the sideling maid, 
On purpose guardless. 

The words sideling and snatched are signifi- 
cant, sprightly and elegant — for this species 
of energy takes place principally in those 
parts of speech which regard life and action. 
Say ta'en and skance for snatch ? d and side- 
ling and you render the expression dull, flat 
and graceless. 

Examples in nouns from Milton : 

Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life, 
Sat like a cormorant. 

If for cormorant he had said bird of prey, 
which would have equally suited both the 
meaning and the measure, the image would 
still have been good, but weaker than it is by 
this specification. 

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In adjectives the same author has given an 
excellent example in describing the attitude in 
which Satan was discovered by Ithuriel and 
his company, when that malign spirit was em- 
ployed in infusing pernicious thoughts into 
the mind of our first mother, 

Him there they found 
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve. 

No word in the language could have so hap- 
pily exprest the posture as that which the poet 
has chosen. 

It will be easy from the same principles to 
illustrate a remark of the Stagyrite, on the 
epithet rosy-finger' d, which Homer has given 
to the morning. This, says the critic, is better 
than if he had said purple-finger' d, and far 
better than if he had said red-finger' d. Aris- 
totle has observed the effect solely in respect 
of beauty, but the remark holds equally true 
of those epithets in respect of vivacity. 

Examples of the adverb : 

Some say, he bid his angels turn askance. 
The pole of earth twice ten degrees and more, 
From the sun's axle. 

Here askance is more energetic than aside. 
This adverb {aside) is of two general signifi- 
cations, and might have been used with equal 
propriety if the plane of the ecliptic had been 
made perpendicular to that of the equator; 
whereas the word askance, in that case, could 
not have been employed in denoting just such 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

an obliquity in the inclination of these two 
planes as actually obtains. We have an ex- 
ample of the same kind in the description 
which Thomson gives us of the sun newly 
risen : 

Lo! now apparent all, 
Aslant the dewbright earth, and colored air, 
He looks in boundless majesty abroad. 

Further, it will sometimes have a consider- 
able effect in enlivening the imagery, not only 
to particularize, but even to individuate the 
object presented to the mind. This conduct 
Doctor Blair in his very ingenious dissertation 
on the poems of Ossian, observes to have been 
generally followed by his favorite bard. His 
similitudes bring to our view the mist on the 
hill of Cromla, the storm on the sea of Mal- 
mor, and the reeds of the lake of Lego. The 
same vivacious manner is often to be found to 
be in Holy Writ, swift as a roe or as a fawn 
upon Mount Bether, white as the snow in 
Salmon, fragrant as the smell of Lebanon. 

The notions we form of individuals in dis- 
tinction to a species or a genus, tends greatly 
to add to our sympathy and vivid perceptions 
of the thing spoken of. Even in fiction the 
feigned names of persons are more spirited 
than would be the initials of anonymous in- 
dividuals. We fancy ourselves in company 
with the actors, and enter with more spirit 
into the detail of their adventures than it 
will be possible for us to do if you always 

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speak of them in the indefinite, the general, 
and therefore the unaffecting style of the 
gentleman and the lady, or he and she. This 
manner, besides, has an air of concealment, 
and is ever reminding us that they are people 
we know nothing about. 

It arises from the same principle that what- 
ever tends to subject the thing spoken of to 
the notice of our senses, especially of our eyes, 
greatly enlivens the expression. In this way 
the demonstrative pronouns are often of con- 
siderable use. "I have coveted," says Paul 
to the elders of Ephesus, "no man's silver, or 
gold, or apparel ; yea, ye yourselves know that 
these hands have ministered to my necessi- 
ties, and to them that were with me." Had 
he said "my hands," the sentence would have 
lost nothing either in meaning or in perspi- 
cuity, but very much in vivacity. 

THE DIFFERENT SORTS OF TROPES 
CONDUCIVE TO VIVACITY 

There are various ways in which rhetorical 
tropes may be rendered subservient to viva- 
city. 

The Less for the More General 

The first way I shall mention is, when, by 
means of the trope, a species is aptly repre- 
sented by an individual, or a genus by a spe- 
cies. I begin with this, because it comes near- 
est that specialty in the use of proper terms, 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

from which, as was evinced already, their 
vivacity chiefly results. Of the individual for 
the species I shall give an example from our 
celebrated satirist, Mr. Pope : 

May some choice patron bless each gray goose-quill! 
May every Bavius have his Bufo still! 

Here, by a beautiful antonomasia, Bavius, a 
proper name, is made to represent one whole 
class of men; Bufo, also a proper name (it 
matters not whether real or fictitious), is 
made to represent another class. By the form- 
er is meant every bad poet ; by the latter every 
rich fool who gives his patronage to such. As 
what precedes in the Essay secures the per- 
spicuity (and in introducing tropes of this 
kind, especially new ones, it is necessary that 
the perspicuity be thus secured), it was im- 
possible in any other manner to express the 
sentiment with equal vivacity. 

This is also a sort of antonomasia to which 
use has long ago given her sanction, and which 
therefore need not be introduced with much 
precaution, as a Solomon for a wise man, a 
Croesus for a rich man, a Judas for a traitor, 
a Homer for a poet. 

In our language we use sparingly that kind 
of synecdoche by which the species is put for 
the genus, as when an assassin is termed a cut- 
throat, or a fiction a lie; slaughter by the 
poets murder, and legal prosecution by the 
defendants persecution. 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

The Most Interesting Circumstances 
Distinguished 

The second way I shall take notice of, where- 
in the use of tropes may conduce to vivacity, 
is when the trope tends to fix the attention on 
that particular of the subject which is most 
interesting, or on which the action related, or 
fact referred to, immediately depends. This 
bears a resemblance to the former method, for 
by that an individual serves to exhibit a spe- 
cies, and a species a genus ; by this a part is 
made to represent the whole ; the abstract, as 
logicians term it, to suggest the concrete, the 
passion its object, the operation its subject, 
the instrument the agent, and the gift the 
giver. Synecdoche and metonymy are the 
tropes which contribute in this way to invigo- 
rate the expression, as hands for persons : 
All hands employed, the royal work grows warm. 

Or a sail for a ship ; tho it would be nonsense 
to say "our sails plowed the main" for our 
ships plowed the main, because plowing the 
main is the immediate action of the keel, a 
very different part of the vessel. To produce 
but one other instance, the word roof is em- 
phatically put for house in the following quo- 
tation : 

Beturn to her? and fifty men dismist? 
No; rather I abjure all roofs and choose 
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, 
To wage against the enmity o' th' air, 
Necessity's sharp pinch 

136 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

The notion of a house as a shelter from the 
inclemencies of the sky, alluded to in these 
lines, directly leads the imagination to form a 
more vivid idea of that part of the building 
which is over our heads. 

Metonymy contributes in this way to vivac- 
ity by substituting the instrument for the 
agent, by employing the abstract to represent 
the concrete, or by naming a passion for its 
object, the gift for the giver, the operation 
for the subject. 

Of the first sort is pen for a literary person ; 
pencil for painter. 

The second species of metonymy mentioned, 
the abstract for concrete, seldom occurs, but 
has also in the same way a very good effect. 
Isaac Bickerstaff, in his lucubrations, ac- 
quaints us with a visit which an eminent rake 
and his companions made to a Protestant nun- 
nery erected in England by some ladies of 
rank. "When he entered," says the author, 
"upon seeing a servant coming toward him, 
with a design to tell him this was no place for 
him, up goes my grave Impudence to the 
maid." Everybody must perceive that the 
expression would have been incomparably 
fainter, if he had said, "Up goes my grave 
impudent fellow to the maid." The reason 
is obvious: an impudent fellow means one 
who among other qualities, has that of impu- 
dence ; whereas, by personifying the abstract, 
you leave no room for thinking of any other 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

quality ; the attention is entirely fixt on that 
which the action related is imputable, and 
thus the natural tendency of the fancy is 
humored by the expression. 

Things Sensible for Things Intelligible 

A third way wherein tropes may be ren- 
dered subservient to vivacity is when things 
intelligible are represented by things sensible. 
There is no truth more evident than that the 
imagination is more strongly affected by what 
is perceived by the senses than by what is 
conceived by the understanding. If, there- 
fore, my subject be of things only conceivable, 
it will conduce to enliven the style that the 
tropes which I employ, when I find it conve- 
nient to employ tropes, exhibit to the fancy 
things perceivable. 

I shall illustrate this doctrine first in meta- 
phors. A metaphor, if apposite, has always 
some degree of vivacity, from the bare exhibi- 
tion of likeness, even tho the literal and the 
figurative senses of the word belong to the 
same class of objects: I mean only in this 
respect the same, that they be both sensible 
or both intelligible. Thus a blander in the 
administration of public affairs has been 
termed a solecism in politics, both things in- 
telligible. The word sails for the wings of a 
fowl, and wings for the sails of a ship are 
metaphors that have much vivacity by reason 

138 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

of the striking resemblance both in the ap- 
pearance of the things signified and in their 
use. The words of which I am speaking I call 
metaphors in their origin; notwithstanding 
which they may be at present, agreeably to 
what was formerly observed, proper terms. 
When speaking of tropes in general, it was 
remarked that many words which to a gram- 
matical eye appear metaphors, are in the rhet- 
orician 's estimate no metaphors at all. The 
ground of this difference is, that the gram- 
marian and the rhetorician try the words by 
very different tests. The touchstone of the 
former is etymology, that of the latter is 
present use. The former peruses a page, and 
perhaps finds not in the whole ten words that 
are not metaphorical ; the latter examines the 
same page, and does not discover in it a single 
-metaphor. What critic, for example, would 
ever think of applying this appellation to 
terms such as these : Spirit, evidence, under- 
standing, reflection? Or what etymologist 
would not acknowledge that to this trope sole- 
ly these terms had owed their birth ? 

But I proceed to give examples of vivacity 
by true rhetorical metaphors, wherein things 
sensible are brought to signify things intelli- 
gible. Of this the following in one from Pope : 

At length Erasmus, that great injur 'd name, 
(The glory of the priesthood, and the shame!) 
Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age, 
And drove those holy vandals on: the stage. 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

Here the almost irresistible influence of gen- 
eral manners, which is an object purely of the 
understanding, is very appositely and viva- 
ciously represented by a torrent, an object 
both of the sight and of the feeling. By the 
same vivid kind of metaphor, light is used for 
knowledge, bridle for restraint; we speak of 
burning with zeal, inflamed with anger, and 
having a rooted prejudice. 

Metonymy, as well as metaphor, frequently 
confers vivacity, as when a badge is put for an 
office; thus, the crown for royalty, the miter 
for the priesthood, the sword for the army, 
the gown for lawyers. Or when the effect is 
put for the causes, and a sensible object in 
place of an intelligible one presented to the 
mind, as, 

'Tis all thy business, business how to shun, 
To bask thy naked body in the sun. 

Tho the rime had permitted the change, the 
word sunshine instead of sun would have ren- 
dered the expression weaker. The luminary 
itself is not only a nobler and distincter, but 
a more immediate, object to the imagination 
than its effulgence, which tho in some respect 
sensible as well as the other, is in some re- 
spect merely intelligible, it not being per- 
ceived directly any more than the air, but dis- 
covered by reflection from the things which it 
enlightens. Accordingly we ascribe to it nei- 

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

ther magnitude nor figure,, and scarcely with 
propriety even color. As an exemplification 
of the latter, the effect or something conse- 
quential for the cause, or at least the imple- 
ment for the motive of using it, these words 
of Scripture will serve, "The sword without, 
and terror within," where the term sword, 
which presents a particular and perceivable 
image to the fancy, must be more picturesque 
than the word war, which conveys an idea 
that is vague and only conceivable, not being 
otherwise sensible but by its consequences. 

Things Animate for Things Lifeless 

A fourth way in which tropes may promise 
vivacity is when things sensitive are presented 
to the fancy instead of things lifeless, or 
things sentient to things inanimate. The 
imagination is more strongly affected by 
things sensible than by things intelligible; and 
things animate awaken greater attention than 
things senseless. Hence, the quality I am 
treating has been called vivacity or liveliness 
of style. 

Thus, the metaphor, "offspring of the 
brain" for literary production, and "empire 
in its childhood" for government in its first 
stage. 

In the following instances sense, feeling and 
affection are ascribed metaphorically to in- 
animate matter. Thus, Thomson describes the 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

influence of the sunbeams upon the snow of 
the valley: 

. • . . Perhaps the vale, 

Belents awhile to the reflected ray. 

"Every hedge, " says the "Tatler," "was 
conscious of more than what the representations 
of enamored swains admit of. ' ' Who sees not 
how much of their energy these quotations 
owe to the two words relents and conscious? 
I shall only add that it is the same kind of 
metaphor which has brought into use such 
expressions as the following : A happy period, 
a learned age, the thirsty ground, a melan- 
choly disaster. 

There are several sorts of metonymy which 
answer the same purpose. The first I 
shall mention is that wherein the inventor is 
made to denote the invention: Ceres, for in- 
stance, to denote bread ; Bacchus, wine ; Mars, 
war; or any of the pagan deities to denote 
that in which he is specially interested; as, 
Neptune, the sea ; Pluto, hell ; Pallas, wisdom ; 
and Venus, the amorous affection. It must 
be owned that as this kind seems even by the 
ancients to have been confined to the discover- 
ies, attributes, or dominions ascribed in their 
mythology to the gods, it is of little or no use 
to us moderns. 

Another tribe of metonymies which exhibits 
things living for things lifeless is when the 
possessor is substituted for his possessions. 

142 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

Of this we have an example in the Gospel: 
"Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
crites, for ye devour the families of widows. ' ' 
Here the word families is used for their means 
of subsistence. Like to this is an expression 
in Balaam's prophecy concerning Israel: "He 
shall eat up the nations his enemies." 

A third tribe of metonymies which often 
presents us with animate instead of inanimate 
objects, is when the concrete is made to signify 
the abstract : as the fool, used for folly ; the 
k?iave, for knavery ; the philosopher, for phi- 
losophy. I shall illustrate this by some ex- 
amples. Dryden has given us one of this kind 
that is truly excellent. 

The slavering cudden propt upon his staff, 
Stood ready gaping with a grinning laugh, 
To welcome her awake, nor durst begin 
To speak, but wisely kept the fool within. 

The whole picture is striking; the words 
are all finely graphical, and the metonymy in 
the conclusion remarkably vivid. Again, 
' 1 Craterus loves the king, but Hephestion loves 
Alexander," is a fine example of metonymy. 
The metonymy lies in king being put for 
royalty. Dryden and Grotius have copied the 
same mode of expression, the latter in a re- 
mark which he has made, perhaps with more 
ingenuity than truth, on the two apostles, 
Peter and John. The attachment of John, he 
observes, was to Jesus, of Peter to the Messiah. 
Accordingly, their master gave the latter the 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

charge of His church, the former that of His 
family, recommending to him in particular 
the care of Mary, His mother. Dryden copies 
it thus : 

Who follow next a double danger bring 
Not only hating David but the King. 

The sense is, they have not only a hatred of 
David, the man who was king, but of the 
kingly office they entertained a rooted detesta- 
tion. The following sentment of Swift is 
somewhat similar : 

I do the most that friendship can; 
I hate the viceroy, love the man. 

The viceroy for the viceroyalty. I shall only 
add two examples more in this way : the first 
is from Addison, who speaking of Tallard 
when taken prisoner by the allies, says : 

An English muse is touch 'd with generous wo, 
And in th ? unhappy man forgets the foe. 

The foe, that is, his state of hostility with re- 
gard to us at the time. For the second I shall 
again recur to Dryden : 

A tyrant's power in rigor is exprest, 

The father yearns in the true prince's breast. 

The father, to denote fatherly affection, or the 
disposition of a father. In fine, it may justly 
be affirmed of this whole class of tropes, that 
as metaphor in general has been termed an 
allegory in epitome, such metaphors and met- 
onymies as present us with things animate in 

144 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the room of things lifeless are prosopopeias in 
miniature. 

I have here examined the tropes so far only 
as they are subservient to vivacity, by present- 
ing to the mind some image which, from the 
original principles of our nature, more strong- 
ly attaches the fancy than could have been 
done by the proper terms whose place they 
occupy. And on this examination I have 
found that they produce this effect in these 
four cases : First, when they can aptly repre- 
sent a species by an individual, or a genus by 
a species ; secondly, when they serve to fix the 
attention on the most interesting particular, 
or that with which the subject is most in- 
timately connected; thirdly, when they ex- 
hibit things intelligible by things sensible; 
and fourthly, when they suggest things life- 
less by things animate. How conducive the 
tropes are in like manner both to elegance and 
to animation will be examined afterward. 
They even sometimes conduce to vivacity, not 
from anything preferable in the ideas con- 
veyed by them, but in a way that can not 
properly come under consideration till we in- 
quire how far this quality depends on the 
number of words and on their arrangement. 



145 



CHAPTER X 

OF VIVACITY, AS DEPENDING ON 
THE NUMBER OF THE WORDS 



147 



CHAPTER X 

OF VIVACITY, AS DEPENDING ON 
THE NUMBER OF THE WORDS 

On this subject it may be established as 
a maxim that admits no exception, 
and it is the only maxim which this 
article admits, that the fewer the words are, 
provided neither propriety nor perspicuity be 
violated, the more vivid always is the expres- 
sion. "Brevity," say& Shakespeare, "is the 
soul of wit." This much is certain, that of 
whatever kind the sentiment be, witty, humor- 
ous, grave, animated, or sublime, the more 
briefly it is exprest, the greater is the energy 
or the more enlivened is the sentiment, and 
the more displayed the particular quality for 
which it is eminent. 

Among the ancients the Lacedemonians 
were the most remarkable for conciseness. To 
use few words, to speak energetically, and to 
be laconic were almost synonymous. As when 
the rays of the sun are collected into the focus 
of a burning-glass, the smaller the spot is which 
receives them, compared with the surface of 
the glass, the greater is the splendor; or, as 
in distillation, the less the quantity of spirit 
is, that is extracted by the still, compared with 
the quantity of liquor from which the extrac- 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

tion is made, the greater is the strength ; so, in 
exhibiting our sentiments by speech, the nar- 
rower the compass of words is, wherein the 
thought is comprized, the more energetic is the 
expression. 

THE PRINCIPAL OFFENSES AGAINST 
BREVITY CONSIDERED 

Tho this energetic brevity is not adapted 
alike to every subject, we ought, on every sub- 
ject, to avoid its contrary, a languid redund- 
ancy of w T ords. It is sometimes proper to be 
copious, but never to be verbose. The faults 
we are to consider are these : 

Tautology 

Tautology is either a repetition of the same 
sense in different words, or a representa- 
tion of anything as the cause, condition, or 
consequence of itself. Of the first, which is 
also the least, take an example from Addison : 

The dawn is overcast; — the morning lours; 
And — heavily in clouds brings on the day — 

Here the same thought is repeated thrice in 
different words. Of the last kind I shall pro- 
duce a specimen from Swift: "I look upon 
it as my duty, so far as God has enabled me, 
and as long as I keep within the bounds of 
truth, of duty, and of decency. ' ' It would be 
strange, indeed, that any man should think it 
his duty to transgress the bounds of duty. 

150 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

Another example from the same hand you 
have in the words which follow: "So it is, 
that I must be forced to get home, partly by 
stealth and partly by force." "How many 
are there," says Bolingbroke, "by whom these 
tidings of good news were never heard?" 
These are tidings of tidings, or news of news. 
"Never did Atticus succeed better in gaining 
the universal love and esteem of all men." 
Either of the two words in italics might have 
been used, but not both. 

It is also considered as of the nature of 
tautology to lengthen a sentence by coupling 
words altogether which are nearly synonymous, 
whether they be substantives or adjectives, 
verbs or adverbs. This fault is very common, 
and to be found even in our best writers. All 
words that add nothing to the sense or clear- 
ness diminish the force of the expression. 
The endless and needless synonyms used by 
some writers are 'as repugnant to vivacity as 
to dignity of style. There are two occasions on 
which synonymous words may be used; one 
is when an obscurer term which we can not 
avoid precedes or follows, and needs explana- 
tion by one that is clearer. The other is, when 
the language of the passions is exhibited. 
Passion naturally dwells on its objects; the 
impassioned speaker always attempts to rise 
in expression ; but when that is impracticable, 
he recurs to repetition and synonymy, and 
thereby in some measure produces the same 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

effect. The hearer, perceiving him, as it were, 
overpowered by his subject, and at a loss to 
find words adequate to the strength of his 
feelings, is by sympathy carried along with 
him, and enters into all his sentiments. There 
is in this case an expression in the very effort 
shown by recurring to synonyms, which sup- 
plies the deficiency in the words themselves. 
Bolingbroke exclaims, in an invective against 
the times, "But all is little, and low, and 
mean among us. " It must be owned that there 
is here a kind of amplification, or, at least, a 
stronger expression of indignation than any 
one of these three epithets could have effected 
alone ; yet there is no climax in the sentence, 
and in this metaphorical use of the words no 
sensible difference of signification. But every- 
body must perceive that this manner suits 
only the popular and declamatory style; in 
compositions which admit no species of the 
pathetic it can have no place. 

An adjective and its substantive sometimes 
include a tautology, as when the former ex- 
presses nothing but what is implied in the 
signification of the latter. Thus, umbrageous 
shade, verdant green, foul dirt. Double com- 
paratives are always tautological. 

Pleonasm 

Another trespass against this species of 
vivacity is pleonasm, which implies barely 
superfluity, or more than enough. Here, tho 

152 



THE PHILOSOPHY * 

the words do not, as in tau^ 
the sense, they add nothing to it. 
stance, "They returned back again &* 
same city from whence they came forth/" *- 
stead of "They returned to the city whence 
they came." The five words, back, again, 
same, from, and forth, are mere expletives. 
They serve neither for ornament nor for use, 
and are therefore to be regarded as incum- 
brances. "I went home," says the Guardian, 
1 ' full of a great many serious reflections ' ' ; 
much better, "full of serious reflections." "If 
he happens," says the "Spectator," "to 
have any leisure upon his hands." To what 
purpose "upon his hands?" "The everlast- 
ing club treats all other clubs with an eye of 
contempt," for "treats all other clubs with 
contempt. ' ' To treat with the eye is a vulgar- 
ism. "I wrote a letter to you yesterday," is 
incorrect, a letter being superfluous. But 
when an additional circumstance is added, as 
"I wrote you a long letter yesterday," the 
nicest judge will not condemn the phrase as 
pleonastic. It may not be improper here to 
remark that every word that is accounted an 
expletive does not always constitute a pleo- 
nasm. For example, the do and the did, as 
the signs of the tenses, are frequently neces- 
sary, and sometimes emphatical. The idiom 
of the language renders them for the most 
part necessary in negation and interrogation; 
and even in affirmation they are found in cer- 

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ENGLISH SERIES 

cances to give an emphasis to the 
a. For instance, '" Did I object to 
measure formerly? I do object to it 
,-xi. ? ; or, "What I did publicly affirm then, 
1 do affirm now, and I will affirm always. " 
The contrast of the different tenses in these 
examples is more precisely marked by such 
monosyllables as are intended singly to point 
out that circumstance, than they can be by 
the bare inflections of the verb. The particle 
there, when it is not an adverb of place, may 
be considered as a kind of expletive, since we 
can not assign to it a separate sense. Never- 
theless it is no pleonasm, for tho it is not easy 
to define in words the import of such terms, 
yet if the omission of them make the expres- 
sion appear either stiff or defective, they are 
not to be regarded as useless. 

Verbosity 

The third and last fault I shall mention 
against a vivid conciseness is verbosity. This, 
it may be thought, coincides with the pleonasm 
already discust. One difference, however, is 
this: In the pleonasm there are words which 
add nothing to the sense ; in the verbose man- 
ner, not only single words but whole clauses 
may have a meaning, and yet it were better to 
omit them, because what they mean is un- 
important. Instead, therefore, of enlivening 
the expression, they make it languish. Another 
difference is, that in a proper pleonasm a com- 

154 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF 

plete correction is always made by 
This will not always answer in the ve* 
style ; it is often necessary to alter as well a. 
erase. 

Verbosity is not the same fault as verbiage. 
The latter is a mere parade of fine words, with- 
out meaning ; but there may be a multiplicity 
of words, where the meaning is not disguised. 

One instance of a faulty exuberance of 
words is the temperate use of circumlocution ; 
but this figure is sometimes allowable, some- 
times a beauty, sometimes a blemish. We in- 
dulge it for the sake of variety; we choose it 
sometimes for the sake of decency ; sometimes 
propriety requires its use, as when Milton 
says of Satan, who had been thrown down 
headlong into hell : 

Nine times the space that measures day and night. 
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew 
Lay vanquished rolling in the fiery gulf. 

To have said nine days and nights would not 
have been proper when talking of a period 
before the creation of the sun, and conse- 
quently before time was portioned out to any 
being in that manner. Sometimes this figure 
serves, as it were accidentally, to introduce a 
circumstance which favors the design of the 
speaker, and which to mention of plain pur- 
pose, without apparent necessity, would ap- 
pear both impertinent and invidious. An ex- 
ample I shall give from Swift : ' c One of these 
authors (the fellow that was pilloried; I have 

155 



AL ENGLISH SERIES 

, iris name) is so grave, sententious, dog- 
acal a rogue, that there is no enduring 
xiim." What an exquisite antonomasia have 
we in this parenthesis! Yet he has rendered 
it apparently necessary by his saying, ■ ' I have 
forgot his name. ' ' Sometimes even the vivac- 
ity of the expression may be augmented by 
a periphrasis, as when it is made to supply 
the place of a separate sentence. Of this the 
words of Abraham afford an instance : ' ' Shall 
not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 
The judge of all the earth is a periphrasis for 
God. 

Another source of languor in style is 
when such clauses are inserted as to a super- 
ficial view appear to suggest something which 
heightens, but on reflection are found to pre- 
suppose something which abates the vigor of 
the sentiment. Of this I shall give a speci- 
men from Swift: "Neither is any condition 
of life more honorable in the sight of God 
than another, otherwise He would be a re- 
specter of persons, ivhich He assures us He is 
not." It is evident that this last clause doth 
not a little enervate the thought, as it implies 
but too plainly that without this assurance 
from God Himself we should naturally con- 
clude Him to be of a character very different 
from that here given Him by the preacher. 



156 



CHAPTER XI 

OF VIVACITY, AS DEPENDING ON 
THE ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS 



m 



CHAPTER XI 

OF VIVACITY, AS DEPENDING ON 
THE ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS 

Having already shown how far vivacity 
depends either on the words them- 
selves, or on their number, I come 
now, lastly, to consider how it is affected by 
their arrangement. 

This, it must be owned, has a very consider- 
able influence in all languages, and yet there 
is not anything which it is more difficult to 
regulate by general laws. The placing of the 
words in a sentence resembles, in some degree, 
the disposition of the figures in a history-piece. 
As the principal figure ought to have that 
situation in the picture which will, at the first 
glance, fix the eye of the spectator, so the 
emphatic word ought to have that place in the 
sentence which will give it the greatest ad- 
vantage for fixing the attention of the hearer. 
In painting there can rarely arise a doubt 
concerning either the principal figure or the 
principal place. In many sentences it may be 
a question both what is the word on which the 
emphasis ought to rest and what is the situa- 
tion which will give it the highest relief. Our 
language allows us as much liberty as will, if 

159 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

we know how to use it. But when neither the 
imagination nor the passions of the hearer are 
addrest, it is hazardous in the speaker to de- 
part from the practise which generally ob- 
tains in the arrangement of the words; and 
that even tho the sense should not be in the 
least affected by the transposition. The tem- 
perament of our language is phlegmatic, like 
that of our climate. When, therefore, neither 
the liveliness of representation nor the warmth 
of passion serve, as it were, to cover the tres- 
pass, it is not safe to leave the beaten track. 
Whatever is supposed to be written or spoken 
in a cool and temperate mood must rigidly ad- 
here to the established order, which, with us, 
as I observed, allows but little freedom. What 
is said will otherwise inevitably be exposed to 
the reproach of quaintness and affectation, 
than which, perhaps, no censure can do great- 
er prejudice to an orator. But as it is in- 
dubitable that in many cases both composition 
and arrangement may, wthout incurring this 
reproach, be rendered greatly subservient to 
vivacity, I shall make a few observations on 
these, which I purpose to illustrate with prop- 
er examples. 

Composition and arrangement in sentences, 
tho nearly connected, and, therefore, properly 
in this place considered together, are not en- 
tirely the same. Composition includes ar- 
rangement and something more. When two 
sentences differ only in arrangement, the 

160 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

sense, the words, and the construction are the 
same; when they differ also in other articles 
of composition there must be some difference 
in the words themselves, or in the manner of 
construing them. Sentences are either simple 
or complex. Simple sentences consist of one 
member, as, "In the beginning God created 
the heaven and the earth." Complex sen- 
tences consist of two members, as, "Doubtless, 
thou art our father, tho Abraham be ignorant 
of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. ' ' In the 
former we consider merely the distribution 
of the words; in the latter regard must be 
had to the arrangement. The members, too, 
are sometimes complex, and admit of a sub- 
division into clauses, as, ' ' The ox knoweth its 
owner, and the ass his master's crib; but 
Israel doth not know, my people doth not 
consider.' ' Here the two members are sub- 
divided into two clauses each, each having a 
verb. Of such a sentence as this, "I have 
called, but ye refused," we should say indif- 
ferently that it consists of two members or of 
two clauses. The members or the clauses are 
not always perfectly separate, the one suc- 
ceeding the other. One of them is sometimes 
very aptly enclosed by the other, as in the 
subsequent instance: "When Christ (who is 
our life) shall appear, then shall ye also ap- 
pear with Him in glory." This sentence con- 
sists of two members, the former of which is 
divided into two clauses ; one of these clauses, 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

"who is our life," being, as it were, embos- 
omed in the other, "when Christ shall ap- 
pear/' 

So much for the primary distinction of sen- 
tences into simple and complex. 

SIMPLE SENTENCES 

With regard to simple sentences, it ought to 
be observed first, that there are degrees in 
simplicity. "God made man," is a very sim- 
ple sentence. "On the sixth day God made 
man of the dust of the earth after His own 
image," is still a simple sentence in the sense 
of rhetoricians and critics, as it has but one 
verb, but less simple than the former on ac- 
count of the circumstances specified. The 
simpler the sentence the less scope there is for 
variety of arrangement, yet even in the sim- 
plest, whatever strongly impresses the fancy 
is sufficient to authorize the violation of the 
rule. 

In English the nominative has the first 
place, the verb the second, and the accusative 
the third, if the verb be active; if it be the 
substantive verb, the participle, adjective, or 
predicate occupies the third place. This order 
is sometimes inverted, as "Great is Diana 
of the Ephesians." Alter the arrangement, 
restore the grammatic order, and say, "Diana 
of the Ephesians is great," and you destroy 
at once the signature of impetuosity and ardor 

162 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

resulting, if you please to call it so, from the 
disarrangement of the words. 

We are apt to consider the customary ar- 
rangement as the most consonant to nature, 
in consequence of which notion we brand 
every departure from it as a transgression of 
the natural order. This way of thinking aris- 
eth from some very specious causes, but is far 
from being just. ' ' Custom, ' ' it has been said, 
"becomes a second nature." Nay, we often 
find it strong enough to suppress the first. 
Accordingly, what is in this respect accounted 
natural in one language is unnatural in an- 
other. In Latin, for example, the negative 
particle is commonly put before the verb ; in 
English it is put after it ; in French one nega- 
tive is put before and another after. If in 
any of these languages you follow the practise 
of any other, the order of the w T ords will ap- 
pear unnatural. We, in Britain, think it more 
suitable to nature to place the adjective before 
the substantive; the French and most other 
Europeans think the contrary. We range the 
oblique cases of the personal pronouns, as we 
do the nouns whose place they occupy, after 
the verb ; they range them invariably before, , 
by custom, which is thus different in different 
nations. 

The next example I shall produce is very 
similar to the former, as in it the substantive 
verb is preceded by the participle passive, and 
followed by the nominative. In the acclama- 

163 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

tions of the people on our Savior's public en- 
try into Jerusalem, the historian informs us 
that they cried out, " Blest is He that cometh 
in the name of the Lord." Instead of this, 
say, c ' He that cometh in the name of the Lord 
is blest," and by this alteration in the order 
of the words, apparently trifling, you convert 
a fervid exclamation into a cold aphorism. 

The third example shall be of an active verb, 
preceded by the accusative, and followed by 
the nominative, as " Silver and gold have I 
none." The beggar looked for money, it is 
first mentioned, and his attention is then di- 
rected to the apostle *s mission, "But that 
which I have, give I thee; in the name of 
Jesus Christ arise and walk. ' ' 

My fourth example should be one wherein 
the verb occupies the first place in the sen- 
tence, which often happens in the ancient 
languages with great advantage in point of 
vivacity. But this can not frequently obtain 
in English without occasioning an ambiguity. 
The first place, when given to a verb, being, 
by the rules of our syntax, appropriated to 
distinguish these three things, a command, as 
"Stay not here"; a question, as "Were they 
present?" and a supposition, as "Had I 
known"; from an assertion, as "Ye stay not 
here," "They were present," and "I had 
known." A few trifling phrases, as said he, 
replied they, are the sole exceptions in the 
simple tenses, at least in prose. In some in- 

164 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

stances, however, in the compound tenses, the 
verb may precede without giving rise to any 
double meaning. In such cases it is not the 
auxiliary or the substantive verb that begins 
the sentence, as in supposition and interroga- 
tion, but the infinitive of the principal verb 
in the active voice, and the participle in the 
passive, as in expressions like these, "Go I 
must, whatever may ensue." ''Avoid it he 
could not by any means. ' ' An instance in the 
passive voice has been given in the second 
example. 

Often a particle, such as an adverb or prep- 
osition belonging to a compound verb (for it 
matters not in which way you consider it), 
emphatically begins the sentence, as in that 
formerly quoted for another purpose: "Up 
goes my grave Impudence to the maid." In 
the particle up that circumstance is denoted 
which particularly marks the importance of 
the action. 

Of all the other parts of speech the conjunc- 
tions are the most unfriendly to vivacity ; and 
next to them the relative pronouns, as partak- 
ing of the nature of conjunctions. These par- 
ticles are of use chiefly to knit together com- 
plex sentences, and their frequent recurrence 
can not fail to prove tiresome and unenliven- 
ing. Nowhere has simplicity in the expres- 
sion a better effect in invigorating the senti- 
ments than in poetical description on interest- 
ing subjects. Consider the song composed by 

165 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

Moses, on occasion of the passage of the Israel- 
ites through the Red Sea, and you will find 
that part of the effect produced by that noble 
hymn is justly imputable to the simple, the 
abrupt, the rapid manner adopted in the com- 
position. I shall produce only two verses for 
a specimen. "The enemy said, I will pur- 
sue ; I will overtake ; I will divide the spoil ; 
my revenge shall be satiated upon them: I 
will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy 
them; Thou blewest with Thy breath; the 
sea covered them; they sank as lead in the 
mighty waters. ' ' This is the figure which the 
Greek rhetoricians call asyndeton, and to 
which they ascribe a wonderful efficacy. Here 
conjunctions and relatives are superseded by 
the natural connection, which is both close and 
manifest. The converse of this figure is the 
polysyndeton, to which the rhetoricians as- 
cribe energy, celerity of operation, and fervor 
in narration, which are best exprest by the 
first; a deliberate attention to every circum- 
stance as being of importance, and to this in 
particular, the multiplicity of the circum- 
stances is best awakened by the second. The 
conjunctions and relatives excluded by the 
asyndeton are such as connect clauses and 
members ; those repeated by the polysyndeton 
are such as connect single words only. All 
connectives are alike set aside by the former; 
the latter is confined to copulatives and dis- 
junctives. These two examples will illustrate 

166 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the difference: " While the earth remain eth, 
seed time, and harvest, and cold, and heat, 
and summer, and winter, and day and night 
shall not cease." Everything to which a per- 
manency of so great importance is secured 
requires the most deliberate attention, and in 
the following declaration of the apostle much 
additional weight and distinctness are given to 
each particular by the repetition of the con- 
junction: "I am persuaded that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate us from the 
love of God." 

COMPLEX SENTENCES 

I come now to the consideration of complex 
sentences. These are of two kinds. They are 
either periods or sentences of a looser com- 
position, for which the language does not fur- 
nish us with a particular name. A period is 
a complex sentence, wherein the meaning re- 
mains suspended till the whole is finished. 
The connection consequently is so close be- 
tween the beginning and the end as to give 
rise to the name period, wilich signifies cir- 
cuit. The following is such a sentence : ' ' Cor- 
ruption could not spread with so much success, 
tho reduced into system, and tho some minis- 
ters, with equal impudence and folly, avowed 

167 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

it by themselves and their advocates to be the 
principal expedient by which they governed; 
if a long and almost unobserved progression 
of causes and effects did not prepare the con- 
juncture." The criterion of a period is this: 
If you stop anywhere before the end, the pre- 
ceding words will not form a sentence, and 
therefore can not convey any determined 
sense. This is plainly the case with the above 
example. The first verb being could and not 
can, the potential and not the indicative mood, 
shows that the sentence is hypothetical, and 
requires to its completion some clause begin- 
ning with if, unless, or some other conditional 
particle. And after you are come to the con- 
junction, you find no part where you can stop 
before the end. From this account of the 
nature of a period we may justly infer that it 
was much easier in Greek and Latin to write 
in periods than it is in English, or perhaps in 
any European tongue. The construction with 
them depended mostly on inflection; conse- 
quently the arrangement was much in their 
own power; and as the sense of every sen- 
tence hangs on the verb, one ordinary way 
with them of keeping the sense suspended was 
by reserving the verb to the end. Modern 
language rarely permits us to imitate this. In 
loose sentences there will always be found one 
place at least before the end at which, if you 
make a stop, the construction of the preceding 
part will render it a complete sentence. 

168 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

In a period the dependence of the members 
is reciprocal ; in a loose sentence the former 
members have not a necessary dependence on 
the latter, whereas the latter depend entirely 
on the former. Indeed, if both former and 
latter members are, in respect of construction, 
alike independent of each other, they do not 
constitute one sentence, but two or more. And 
here I shall remark, by the way, that it is by 
applying the observation just now made, and 
not always by the pointing, even where the 
laws of punctuation are most strictly observed, 
that we can discriminate sentences. When 
they are closely related in respect of sense, 
and when the sentences themselves are simple, 
they are for the most part separated only by 
commas or by semicolons; rarely by colons, 
and almost never by points. 

But there is an intermediate sort of sen- 
tences which must not be altogether over- 
looked, tho they are neither entirely loose nor 
perfect periods. Of this sort is the following : 
* ' The other institution, ' ' he is speaking of the 
eucharist, "has been so disguised by orna- 
ment, || and so directed in your church at 
least, to a different purpose from commemo- 
ration, that if the disciples were to assemble 
at Easter in the chapel of His Holiness, Peter 
would know his successor as little, 1 1 as Christ 
would acknowledge His vicar; and the rest 
would be unable to guess 1 1 what the ceremony 
represented || or intended." There are four 

169 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

members in this sentence: The first is com- 
plex, including two clauses, and ending at 
commemoration; the second is simple and 
ends at Holiness. The sentence could not ter- 
minate at either of these places or at any of 
the intermediate words. The third member is 
subdivided into two clauses, and ends at vicar. 
Had the sentence been concluded here there 
would be no defect in the construction. The 
fourth member, which concludes the sentence, 
is also compound, and admits a subdivision 
into three clauses. The sentence might have 
terminated at the w T ord represented, which 
finishes the second clause. The two words 
v/hich could have admitted a full stop after 
them are distinguished by italics. 

On comparing the two kinds of complex 
sentences together, to wit, the period and the 
loose sentence, we find that each has its ad- 
vantages and disadvantages. The former sa- 
vors more of artifice and design; the latter 
seems more the result of pure Nature. The 
period is nevertheless more susceptible of 
vivacity and force ; the loose sentence is apt, 
as it w T ere, to languish and grow tiresome. 
The first is more adapted to the style of the 
writer; the second to that of the speaker. 
But as that style is best, whether written or 
spoken, w T hich has a proper mixture of both, 
so there are some things in every species of 
discourse which require a looser and some 
which require a preciser manner. In general, 

170 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the use of periods best suits the dignity of the 
historian, the political writer, and the philoso- 
pher. The other manner more befits the facil- 
ity which ought to predominate in essays, dia- 
logs, familiar letters, and moral tales. These 
approach nearer the style of conversation, into 
which periods can very rarely find admittance. 

Observations on Periods, and on the Use of An- 
tithesis in the Composition of Sentences 

tence, because the energy is diffused through 
the latter, but in the former collected into a 
single point. To avoid obscurity rhetoricians 
have generally prescribed that a period should 
consist of four members. 

The only rule which will never fail is to 
beware both of prolixity and of intricacy, 
and the only competent judges in the case are 
good sense and a good ear. 

A great deal has been said both by ancient 
critics and by modern on the formation and 
turn of periods ; but their remarks are chiefly 
calculated with a view to harmony. In order 
to prevent the necessity of repeating after- 
ward, I shall take no notice of these remarks 
at present, tho the rules founded on them do 
also, in a certain degree, contribute both to 
perspicuity and to strength. 

That kind of period which has most vivac- 
ity is commonly that wherein you find an an- 
tithesis in the members, the several parts of 
one having a similarity to those of the other, 

171 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

adapted to some resemblance in the sense. 
The effect produced by the corresponding 
members in such a sentence is like that pro- 
duced in a picture where the figures of the 
group are not all on a side, with their faces 
turned the same way, but are made to con- 
trast each other by their several positions. 
Besides, this kind of periods is generally the 
most perspicuous. There is in them not only 
that original light which results from the ex- 
pression when suitable, but there is also that 
which is reflected reciprocally from the op- 
posed members. The relation between these is 
so strongly marked that it is next to impos- 
sible to lose sight of it. The same quality 
makes them also easier for the memory. 

I shall give an example of a period where, 
in one of the members, this rule is not ob- 
served. ' ' Having already shown how the fancy 
is affected by the w T orks of Nature, and after- 
ward considered in general both the works of 
Nature and of Art, 1 1 how they mutually assist 
and complete each other, || in forming such 
scenes and prospects || as are most apt to de- 
light the mind of the beholder ; I shall in this 
paper throw together some reflections on that 
particular art, 1 1 which has a more immediate 
tendency than any other, || to produce those 
pleasures of the imagination, || which have 
hitherto been the subject of this discourse.' ' 
This sentence is a period, agreeably to the 
definition formerly given. Wherever we stop, 

172 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

the sentence is imperfect till we reach the 
end. But the members are not all composed 
according to the rule laid down. It consists 
of three members. The first ends at Nature, 
is a single clause, and therefore not affected 
by the rule ; the second is complex, consisting 
of several clauses, and ends at beholder; the 
third is also complex, and concludes the sen- 
tence. The last member can not be faulty, 
else the sentence would be no period. The 
fault must then be in the structure of the 
second, which is evidently loose. That mem- 
ber, tho not the sentence, might conclude, and 
a reader naturally supposes that it does con- 
clude, first at the word art, afterward at the 
word other, both of which are before its real 
conclusion. Such a composition, therefore, 
even in periods, occasions, tho in a less degree, 
the same kind of disappointment to the reader, 
and consequently the same appearance of 
feebleness in the style, which result from long, 
loose and complex sentences. A very little 
alteration in the faulty member will unite 
the clauses more intimately and entirely re- 
move the exception, as thus : ' ' and afterward 
considered in general, how in forming such 
scenes and prospects as are most apt to delight 
the mind of the beholder, the works both of 
Nature and of Art mutually assist and com- 
plete each other. ' ' 

It may be thought, and justly, too, that this 
care will sometimes make the expression ap- 

173 



PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

pear elaborate. I shall only recommend it as 
one of the surest means of preventing this 
effect, to render the members as simple as 
possible, and particularly to avoid synonyms 
and redundancies, of which there are a few 
in the member now criticized. Such are scenes 
and prospects, assist and complete, mutually, 
and each other. With the aid of this reforma- 
tion also, the whole period will appear much 
better compacted as follows: " Having al- 
ready shown how the fancy is affected by the 
works of Nature; and afterward considered 
in general 1 1 how in forming such scenes as are 
most apt to delight the mind of the beholder, 1 1 
the works both of Nature and Art assist each 
other; I shall in this paper throw together 
some reflections on that particular art, 1 1 which 
has a more immediate tendency than any 
other, II to produce those primary pleasures 
of the imagination, 1 1 which have hitherto been 
the subject of this discourse.' ' 

OBSERVATIONS ON LOOSE SENTENCES 

In complex sentences of looser composition 
there is, as was observed, a much greater risk 
of falling into a languid manner. This may 
arise from the different causes. First, even 
where the sentence is neither long nor complex, 
the members will sometimes appear disjointed. 
The consequence always is that a hearer will 
at first be in doubt whether it be one sentence 

174 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

or more. Take the following for an ex- 
ample: "However, many who do not read 
themselves, || are seduced by others that do, 
and thus become unbelievers upon trust, and 
at second hand; and this is too frequent a 
case." The harmony of the members taken 
severally contributes to the bad effect of the 
whole. The cadence is so perfect at the end 
both of the first member and of the second, 
that the reader is not only disappointed but 
surprized to find the sentence still unfinished. 
The additional clauses appear out of their 
proper place like something that had been 
forgotten. The excessive length of the sen- 
tence is another cause of languor here. 

REVIEW OF WHAT HAS BEEN DEDUCED 
ABOVE IN REGARD TO ARRANGE- 
MENT 

I have now briefly examined how far ar- 
rangement may contribute to vivacity, both 
in simple sentences and in complex, and from 
what principles in our nature it is that the 
effect arises. 

In this discussion I have had occasion to 
consider, in regard to simple sentences, the 
difference between what may properly be 
called the rhetorical and natural order and 
that which I have denominated the artificial 
and grammatical, or the customary way of 
combining the words in any particular lan- 

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PRACTICAL ENGLISH SERIES 

guage. I have observed, as to the former, and 
taken some pains to illustrate the observation, 
that it is universal; that it results from the 
frame of spirit in which the sentiment, what- 
ever it be, is spoken or written ; that it is by 
consequence a sort of natural expression of 
that frame, and tends to communicate it to the 
hearer or the reader. I have observed also 
that this order, which alone deserves the name 
of natural, is in every language more or less 
cramped by the artificial or conventional laws 
of arrangement in the language ; that, in this 
respect, the present languages of Europe, as 
they allow less latitude, are considerably in- 
ferior to Greek and Latin, but that English 
is not a little superior in this particular to 
some of the most eminent of the modern 
tongues. I have shown also that the artificial 
arrangement is different in different lan- 
guages, and seems chiefly accommodated to 
such simple explanation, narration and deduc- 
tion as scarcely admits the exertion either of 
fancy or of passion. 

In regard to complex sentences, both com- 
pound and decompound, I have remarked the 
difference between the loose sentence and the 
period; I have observed the advantages and 
the disadvantages of each in point of vivacity, 
the occasions to which they are respectively 
suited, the rules to be observed in composing 
them, and the faults which, as tending to en- 
ervate the expression and tire the reader, 

176 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RHETORIC 

ought carefully to be avoided. I have also 
made some remarks on the different kinds of 
antithesis, and the uses to which they may 
properly be applied. 

Thus much shall suffice for the general il- 
lustration of this article concerning the vivac- 
ity which results from arrangement. 



177 



HOW TO 
SPEAK IN PUBLIC 

A Mast Suggestive and Praftical Self- Instructor 
By Grenville Kleiser 

Author of " Power and Personality in Speaking/* Etc 

'X'HIS new book is a complete elocutionary manual com- 
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and modern eloquence. It is intended for students, teachers, 
business men, lawyers, clergymen, politicians, clubs, debating 
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speaking. 

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS 



Mechanics of Elocution 
Mental Aspects 
Public Speaking 
Selections for Practise 



Previous Preparation 
Physical Preparation 
Mental Preparation 
Moral Preparation 



Preparation of Speech 

u Many useful suggestions in it."— Hon. Joseph H. Cboate y New 
York. 

" It is admirable and practical instruction in the technic of speak- 
ing, and I congratulate you upon your thorough work.'' — Hon. Albert 
J. Beveridge. 

u The work has been very carefully and well compiled from a large 
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many admirable suggestions for those who are interested in becoming 
better speakers. As a general text for use in teaching public speak- 
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in Public Speaking, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 

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How to Develop 

Power and 

Personality 

in Speaking 

By GRENVILLE KLEISER 
Author of "How to*Speak in Public." Introduction by Lewis O. Bras- 
tow, D.D., Pro/esstr Emeritus^ Talc Divinity SchtJ 

This new book gives practical suggestions and 
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POWER.— Power of Voice— Power of Gesture- 
Power of Vocabulary — Power of Imagination — 
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Power of Memory — Power of Extempore Speech 
— Power of Conversation — Power of Silence — 
Power of a Whisper — Power of the Eye. 
PERSONALITY.— More Personality for the Lawyer 
— The Salesman — The Preacher — The Politician 
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— S. Parkes Cadman, D.D., Brooklyn, N. Y. 

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127/10, Cloth, 422 pages. Price, $1.25, net; by mail, $1.40 

FUNK Sf WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers 
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HOW TO ARGUE 

AND WIN 

By GRENVILLE KLEISER 

Author of "How to Speak in Public.'"' 

"^TlNETY-NINE MEN in a hundred can argue 
-*^ to one who can argue and win. Yet upon 
this faculty more than any other depends the 
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tician, salesman, and teacher. The desire to win 
is characteristic of all men. " Almost to win a 
case," "Almost to close a sale," "Almost to make 
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In this book will be found definite suggestions for 
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of clear and effective statement. It is the outcome 
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think on their feet." The aim throughout is prac- 
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successful argumentation. 

CONTENTS 

Introductory — Truth and Facts — Clearness and Conciseness— 
The Use of Words— The Syllogism— Faults— Personality— The 
Lawyer— The Business Man— The Preacher— The Salesman — 
The Public Speaker— Brief-Drawing — The Discipline of Debate — 
Tact— Cause and Effect — Reading Habits— Questions for Solution 
— Specimens of Argumentation — Golden Rules in Argumentation. 

Note for Law Lecture Abraham Lincoln 

Of Truth Francis Bacon 

Of Practise and Habits John Locke 

Improving the Memory Isaac Watts 

72mo, Cloth. $1.25, net; by mail, $f.JJ. 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers 
NEW YORK and LONDON 



ELSIE JANIS, the wonderful protean actress, says :—" I 
can not speak in too high praise of the opening remarks. If 
carefully read, will greatly assist. Have several books of choice 
selections, but I find some in '"Humorous Hits ' never before 
published.' 1 '' 



HUMOROUS HITS 

And How to Hold an Audience 

By GRENVILLE KLEISER 

Author of "How to Argue and Win." 

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HOW TO ENJOT THE ECSTAST THAT ACCOM- 
PANIES SUCCESSFUL SPEAKING 

Before An Audience 

OR 

The Use of the Will in Public Speaking 
By NATHAN SHEPPARD 

Talks to the Students of the University of St. Andrew and 
the University of Aberdeen 9 

This is not a book on elocution, but it deals in a 
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CAPITAL, FAMILIAR, AND RACY 
if I shall recommend it to our three schools of elocution. It 
h capital, familar, racy, and profoundly philosophical.'* — Joseph 
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REPLETE WITH PRACTICAL SENSE 
" It is replete with practical sense and sound suggestions, and 
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"KNOCKS TO FLINDERS" OLD THEORIES 
"The author knocks to flinders the theories of elocutionist, 
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TO REACH, MOVE, AND INFLUENCE MEN 

" He does not teach elocution, but the art of public speaking. 
o . . Gives suggestions that will enable one to reach and move 
and influence men. ' ' — The Pittsburg Chronicle. 

l2mo, Cloth, 152 Pages. Price, ?j cents 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers 
NEW YORK and LONDON 



Vital Helps Toward Body -Building 

HOME GYMNASTICS 

According to the Ling System 

By Prof. ANDERS WIDE, M.D. 

This system of gymnastics has been designed on 
strictly scientific principles, and has been recognized 
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I2mo, Cloth, jo cents, net ; by mail, 34. cents 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers 
NEW YORK and LONDON 



NOV 2B 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



NOV t>3 '911 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS a 



021 161 595 3 



